With President Cyril Ramaphosa starting day one of his presidency on Friday‚ he will be staring down the mammoth task in front of him. Among his first duties will be the delivering the state of the nation address‚ but there are things he has to do first:

1. Clean out the dead wood Ramaphosa’s first priority should be to remove incompetent cabinet ministers. Former president Jacob Zuma was harshly criticised for corruption and nepotism‚ but his biggest failing was to severely damage the ability of government to deliver.

2. Restore the criminal justice system The credibility of the prosecution service‚ the police and the Hawks is at an all-time low following Zuma’s deliberate campaign to prevent his prosecution. Ramaphosa needs to start with a new national director of public prosecution to replace Shaun Abrahams. The Hawks need to be turned into an effective‚ independent investigative arm of the justice system so that they can finally deal with corruption by senior public officials.

To read Hartley’s three other must-do’s for Ramaphosa‚ visit Times Select