Ramaphosa’s eye infection ‘quite bad’ as he cancels media interviews
Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to speak to the media about a range of issues, for the first time since he formed the multi-party Cabinet.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has, at the last minute, cancelled an interview with SABC News and other broadcast houses, in day set aside for engagements with the media.
This was meant to be his first sit-down interview with the media since the formation of the so-called government of national unity executive on 30 June 2024.
Ramaphosa interview cancelled
Unfortunately, an eye infection has led to a postponement but Ramaphosa is still keen to conduct the interview, SABC News political editor Mzwandile Mbeje said on Tuesday afternoon.
Ramaphosa was expected to ventilate plans of the seventh administration, including accelerating economic growth, service delivery, foreign policy and the scourge of crime, among other issues.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika’s Ziyanda Ngcobo after the postponement, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president’s eye would not be suitable for a TV interview.
“The eye infection is quite bad and it would not look good on television to appear with an eye like that,” Magwenya said.
The interviews were supposed to take place at Mahlamba Ndlopfu presidential residence in Tshwane.
Ramaphosa still ‘fit as a fiddle’?
In January this year, there were rumours that Ramaphosa was unwell after he missed some events during the ANC’s 112th birthday celebrations in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
However, the Ramaphosa quashed the murmurs, saying he was preserving his energies ahead of a gruelling itinerary.
“I had meetings, then I continued working at home, clearly on the instructions of the officials, saying that ‘we want you to be well preserved because the next six days will be very vigorous for you as a president’,” Ramaphosa said at the time.
“So the news of my illness and the news that I was in ICU are extremely exaggerated; I am fit as a fiddle, I have no illness whatsoever, I didn’t collapse.”
Covid-19 diagnosis
Ramaphosa rarely gets struck down by illness, at least publicly, except in December 2021 when he was diagnosed with Covid-19.
According to the Presidency at the time, Ramaphosa started feeling unwell after leaving the memorial service of apartheid-era president FW de Klerk in Cape Town.
“The president is in good spirits but is being monitored by the South African Military Health Service of the South African National Defence Force.
“The president, who is fully vaccinated, is in self-isolation in Cape Town and has delegated all responsibilities to Deputy President David Mabuza for the next week,” the Presidency said at the time.