If there was any indication of the amount of stress Cyril Ramaphosa is carrying, it can be found in this snippet taken from a live press briefing where the president was seen looking for his misplaced iPad.
UPDATE: Turns out, the tale of the missing iPad was solved by the president’s helpers who found the Apple device after searching tirelessly for it. Read the statement released by the Presidency below:
Thank you, South Africa. There was no question of the iPad being missing or stolen. The President was making a light-hearted point while waiting for the iPad to be brought to him – which it was before he began his remarks to media.
— Presidency | South Africa (@PresidencyZA) June 22, 2021
Ramaphosa loses memory during live presser
Ramaphosa was on an oversight visit in the Mother City, on Tuesday, where he met with Premier Alan Winde, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and Transnet executives, to oversee operations at the Port of Cape Town.
During a jam-packed media briefing where journalists got an opportunity to probe the president on other pertinent issues such as the scuppered vaccine rollout and reports of a Level 5 lockdown on the cards, Ramaphosa was struck by a bizarre case of amnesia.
The president’s iPad, which he often uses to read out his speeches, was nowhere to be found. The room was muted by a deathly silence as Ramaphosa fumbled around, failing to draw memory on where he’d placed the Apple device.
Here is a snippet of the awkward moment that has since gone viral on social media:
What’s this now? Is it a speech about a lost iPad? Some people never cease to clown and amaze! pic.twitter.com/Pc8lOXzT1J
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) June 22, 2021
Cyril Ramaphosa:
— Izwe Lethu (@LandNoli) June 22, 2021
I’m waiting for my iPad, somebody stole my iPad…..
Should I sit down? Okay pic.twitter.com/XcPZTyAGBa
Ramaphosa responds to Level 5 lockdown claims
While this moment has taken over the entire discourse around Ramaphosa’s latest media appearance, the president did make important comments about the possibility of a Level 5 lockdown escalation.
Asked by the media if these reports were, indeed, true, the president skirted in providing a direct response. Instead, he confirmed that a meeting with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is scheduled to take place this week where decisions will be made on what the next response to the COVID-19 infections spike should be.
In a report published by Business Day, the meeting is said to be set for Thursday 24 June 2021, a day before the EFF takes to the streets to protest against the Alert level increase.
Julius Malema appeared on Newzroom Afrika, on Tuesday, where he made it abundantly clear that no South African was prepared to endure a life under Martial law again.
“From the handling of this vaccine program, it has been one mess after the other – and it is very clear that there is no program by government to vaccinate our people. We are not going to sit back and allow Cyril to gamble with the lives of our people. We are going to the streets and we will be there for some few hours,” he warned.