Ramaphosa tells court why he retained Dlamini
Ramaphosa says decision not to fire minister was ‘political in nature’
President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended his decision to keep minister Bathabile Dlamini in his cabinet, saying he used his “political judgment”, despite the Constitutional Court finding that she had lied under oath. The president has asked the Pretoria high court to not even hear a bid by the DA to challenge his decision not to fire Dlamini. The minister in the presidency in charge of women is also the president of the ANC Women’s League and holds considerable political power within the ANC.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended his decision to retain minister Bathabile Dlamini in his cabinet, saying he used his “political judgment”, despite the Constitutional Court finding that she had lied under oath.
The president has asked the Pretoria high court to not even hear a bid by the DA to challenge his decision not to fire Dlamini. The minister in the presidency in charge of women is also the president of the ANC Women’s League and holds considerable political power within the ANC.
Critics say Ramaphosa elected to keep Dlamini in his cabinet to appease factions aligned to former president Jacob Zuma, ahead of the general elections.
“Decisions as to whom to appoint and to retain in the cabinet are decisions of an essentially political nature, which, I respectfully submit, are not matters that are appropriate to be debated in court,” Ramaphosa said in his court papers.
The Constitutional Court asked law enforcement authorities to investigate whether Dlamini should face criminal charges for lying under oath during the court battle over the payment of grants to 10-million of SA’s most vulnerable citizens.
It described her conduct as “reckless and grossly negligent”‚ saying she failed to disclose information before a courtordered inquiry, led by retired judge Bernard Ngoepe, into her role in the social grants debacle.
Ngoepe described Dlamini as “evasive” and said she answered “questions with questions”.
Ramaphosa maintains his decision to retain her as a minister was not made “in bad faith or under duress”. He said he was advised that the findings made against Dlamini in connection with her handling of the SA Social Services Agency (Sassa) grants payment crisis, while she was social development minister, “do not disqualify her from continued membership in the cabinet”.
The DA, however, maintains that the advice given to Ramaphosa was wrong, and the findings made against Dlamini render her unsuitable to serve as a minister.
Ramaphosa seemingly made little to no effort to defend Dlamini against those findings, saying the rulings “speak for themselves”. However, the president also questioned why the DA had gone straight to court to challenge his decision to retain Dlamini instead of asking him in parliament.
He further argued that if the party was intent on removing Dlamini, it could have brought a motion of no confidence in his entire cabinet.
This comes as the Constitutional Court is set to hear the president’s application for leave to appeal against a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling concerning his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s controversial decision to fire former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and then his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas.
The DA challenged that decision and brought a court application that would effectively force Zuma to disclose an “intelligence report” he reportedly used to accuse Gordhan and Jonas of treason.
The DA won that application in the high court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, but Ramaphosa is hoping to convince SA’s highest court that the president should not be expected to explain his reasons for cabinet reshuffles by providing a record of whatever informed his decisions to hire and fire ministers.