Cyril Ramaphosa is going to a prison cell – Prince Mashele

Political analyst and author Prince Mashele predicts that President Cyril Ramaphosa will end up in prison after he loses power.

He made this prediction during a discussion about Ramaphosa’s future with Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh on the SMWX podcast.

Mashele said that people close to Ramaphosa believed they could manage the scandal because he was the country’s president. However, this was not the case.

“I bet my last penny that the Phala Phala money scandal will eventually follow Cyril Ramaphosa into a jail cell once he loses state power,” he said.

He likened it to former President Jacob Zuma, who had full control of the state during his tenure. When he lost power, he went to jail.

“Government officials cover things up when you are in power. However, this changes when you are no longer the president,” he said.

He argued that while political tricks can stall parliament, a criminal court process cannot be dodged.

Commenting on the current impeachment process, he said that Ramaphosa will not be impeached by Parliament.

“He will not sit in front of an impeachment committee in Parliament. Ramaphosa is exiting, and what he is doing is buying time,” he said.

“He knows that setting up an impeachment committee and process to handle such a case takes a long time. He is now closing all gaps he can while in office.”

According to Mashele, Ramaphosa will stay in office and oversee the local government elections in November 2026.

“The impeachment process may run until he is replaced at the ANC’s elective conference in December 2027,” he said.

“If the impeachment committee calls him sooner than December 2027, he will resign because there are too many skeletons in the closet.”

He said that Ramaphosa will never subject himself to a process which threatens to unearth the truth.

South Africa has no real leadership and runs on autopilot – Prince Mashele

Mashele said that because of Ramaphosa’s personal problems, he is not governing as an active president but as a compromised individual.

“South Africa is currently operating with a total leadership vacuum because the president has been completely cornered by the Phala Phala scandal,” he said.

“South Africa, as we speak, has no leadership. You’ve got this president who’s fighting for another day in office while the country is burning.”

He added that Ramaphosa is not a confident president, which created a huge leadership vacuum, forcing the country to run on autopilot.

He cited the widespread breakdown of law and order, including border control and international drug cartels running local ports, and the ubiquity of illicit drugs.

“When a president has to go on television to project a ‘tough-on-security’ image, it is an admission that they have lost control of the state apparatus,’ he said.

“This is one of the symptoms of state collapse: a president who addresses the nation projecting himself to be strong on security.”

“Ramaphosa’s government has completely lost control of the South African state, so he must now pretend to be a strong man.”