Over the past eight years, the people of South Africa have been abused by the government of Jacob Zuma to the extent that their hunger for hope now renders them vulnerable to all kinds of pseudo-messiahs.

The latest abuse was the January 8 statement delivered by Cyril Ramaphosa. Using different African languages, Ramaphosa blackmailed many into believing it is possible to renew and unite a party corrupt beyond repair.

Those of us who know people like DD Mabuza, Ace Magashule, Nomvula Mokonyane, Bathabile Dlamini, Malusi Gigaba, and other dodgy characters, know very well that it is impossible to renew the people who sat behind Ramaphosa as he delivered his message of hope.

It does not matter how many African languages Ramaphosa can speak, discerning South Africans will never buy the propaganda that the current leadership of the ANC is a "unity" leadership. It is a desperate collection of very scary characters.

To millions of ordinary South Africans, it is not Ramaphosa's message of "unity" and "renewal" that matters; it is his promise of jobs that is important. In this, Ramaphosa was abusive.

Ramaphosa told a big lie. He said that the ANC will expropriate land without compensation in a manner that is sustainable and grows the economy.

Ramaphosa knows this will not happen.

Land is indeed a politically emotive issue in South Africa, given our history, but you cannot expropriate it without compensation and, at the same time, grow the economy.

Look at Zimbabwe; land was expropriated without compensation, and the economy collapsed.

The truth is that if what Ramaphosa promised was to happen, thousands of South Africans who work on commercial farms would lose their jobs.

There could even be food shortages, just as happened in Zimbabwe.

The real problem with Ramaphosa and the ANC is that they don't know what to do to get black people to become productive owners of agricultural land.

If you want to give black people agricultural land, you must first tell us how may black students are studying agriculture and at which universities.

The reason Mugabe's mad policy of expropriation sans compensation ended in disaster is because he had no black agronomists to maintain commercial farming.

After 24 years in power, the ANC cannot tell you how many black agronomists its government has produced, and yet Ramaphosa wants to expropriate land without compensation, and thus hope to grow the economy.

Only fools will believe him.

The failure of the ANC to produce black agronomists is indicative of the party's general failure in the wider economy.

When Ramaphosa calls upon investors to come and invest in South Africa, he is essentially appealing to white people or the Chinese, not blacks. We know that Africa is the poorest continent in the world. Hoping to attract investment from Kenya is a pipe dream. The money is in America, Europe and China.

It is not only a question of money, though; it is fundamentally a matter of know-how.

The governments of Occidental and Oriental countries have facilitated the acquisition of technical knowledge and skills by their own people.

This is why their people are able to set up high-tech factories that make all kinds of high-value goods.

Here in South Africa, the ANC cannot show you one black scientist it has produced who can set up a factory to manufacture cellphones, let alone a car. The rich people the ANC has produced are like Ramaphosa himself; they own McDonald's, but they cannot make burgers.

This is the core problem with Ramaphosa's speech. His people don't know how to set up a factory. Who, then, will create the jobs?

If Ramaphosa wants to learn how to turn an economy around, he must visit Singapore.

There, he will see Singaporeans running their own factories and employing their own people. If he wants to know how this was achieved, he must read Lee Kuan Yew's book From Third World to First.

Dear poor South Africans, Ramaphosa will neither unite the ANC nor improve your lives. It is a forlorn hope.