Consult us, ANC allies tell Ramaphosa
ANC allies Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have stressed the importance of newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa consulting them as well as the leadership of the governing party ahead of his expected cabinet reshuffle.
Business Day understands that while the cabinet reshuffle is on the cards, Ramaphosa does not want to rush it and was also determined to “consult widely” on his appointments.
This could mean that Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will be delivering the budget speech on Wednesday after all.
Ramaphosa, in his state of the nation address on Friday, gave the clearest indication yet that he was set to shake up the Cabinet as well as reconfigure government departments.
His predecessor, Jacob Zuma, was heavily criticised for the cabinet reshuffles he undertook in the last three years of his second term without consulting the ANC's senior officials or the alliance partners.
Ramaphosa, as well as ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe and former treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize — who were among the top six during Zuma’s tenure as president of the ANC and SA — all criticised the former president for failing to consult them on his last cabinet reshuffle.
Zuma also drew the ire of the alliance partners the SACP and Cosatu for failing to consult them. The two allies subsequently called on the ANC to remove Zuma from office.
Both the SACP and Cosatu said that at the core of the “reconfigured alliance” they were calling for thorough consultation on critical decisions such as the cabinet reshuffle.
SACP deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila on Monday said consultations with the allies was a nonnegotiable for Ramaphosa as he moved to stamp his authority on the state.
Mapaila said the president should engage with the allies on a “political level” in terms of the upcoming shake-up.
But the “general thrust” of this particular reshuffle should be to “deal with the parasitic network” in the government, which created a “parallel state” with corrupt intentions.
“Any reshuffle which does not deal with this group will be futile,” Mapaila said.
He said that lazy ministers who did not have the capacity to take on the difficult task of turning around the state should also be excluded, as should those who were dependent on patronage.
Mapaila said that aside from proper consultation with the alliance Ramaphosa should also consult the ANC, which his predecessor had stopped doing towards the end of his tenure.
The alliance scheduled a meeting last week but it had to be postponed because of the decision taken by the ANC’s national executive committee to
recall Zuma — and the aftermath of that decision.
Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said that he was confident Ramaphosa would consult on the reshuffle, but that any such consultation had to be “meaningful”.
He said a good way would be for the president to take suggestions from its allies on the matter, but also acknowledged that it was tricky to handle consultation sensitively to prevent any leaks.
Ntshalintshali said the upcoming reshuffle would be a tricky one as there was an election looming in 2019, so appointments made now could also be short-lived.
Cosatu welcomed the announcement in Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address that the bloated Cabinet was in for a trim. In a statement on its budget expectations, the trade union federation said if the government was serious about balancing the budget, it should trim down ministers and their deputies from 78 to 30.
“Let them announce cuts on politicians’ perks. Let them announce the halting of providing bodyguards to all mayors and municipal speakers,” Cosatu said.
It is understood that while the alliance partners, at the highest level, have been kept abreast of developments so far, there have not yet been talks on Ramaphosa’s widely expected cabinet reshuffle.