He is treated as a saviour, as a messiah of a nation listing as it sails the choppy seas that often mark the 20-year anniversary of democracy.

This view of him is misplaced and his tenure as director at Lonmin Platinum is a telescope through which to look at this erstwhile warrior.

The reason Ramaphosa is so valorised is because of his past and not for anything he has done recently. He was an illustrious leader, a man among men who deserves his legacy as co-architect of the South African democratic edifice.

His early work – as leader of the mine workers, as the first democratic-era ANC secretary-general, as negotiator of our grand Constitution and then as the first-generation black business leader who stormed the Bastilles of downtown Joburg capital – was all in path-blazing roles. 

But for the past decade or so, what has Ramaphosa achieved that was transformative and of superior leadership capability, either in business or in politics? 

Nothing really.

The last significant work he was assigned was the disciplinary inquiry into former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and his colleagues. 

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