Dlamini Zuma sworn in as ANC MP
ANC PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has downplayed speculation that she was heading for the cabinet following her swearing in ceremony yesterday as an ANC MP.
Dlamini Zuma’s return to Parliament came five years after she quit as home affairs minister to head the AU Commission.
But she refused to be drawn on speculation that she would soon be appointed into a senior cabinet position.
She said she was deployed by the ANC in Parliament and there was nothing more to it.
“I have been informed by the office of the chief whip and the secretary-general that I am coming here to be a member of Parliament and nothing else,” she said.
Dlamini Zuma said she will occupy a place on the ANC benches as soon as tasks are handed to her.
She said the ANC will take a decision on where to deploy her in Parliament and which portfolio committee she will serve on.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but I am happy.
“They decide which portfolio committee to go to.
‘‘I don’t mind any committee, I will learn. It is interesting coming back after five years,” Dlamini Zuma remarked.
Her return to Parliament coincided with the start of the weekend-long ANC national executive committee meeting in Pretoria.
There is also speculation that President Jacob Zuma will have another cabinet reshuffle after the midnight bloodbath in March.
The DA has already complained that the return of Dlamini Zuma will disrupt the functioning of Parliament due to internal battles in the ANC ahead of the party’s elective conference in December.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the deployment of Dlamini Zuma to Parliament was a pre-emptive strike by Zuma against ANC MPs who revolted against him in the motion of no confidence debate last month.
Dlamini Zuma, who has served in several portfolios in the cabinet since 1994, has replaced Pule Mabe as ANC MP.
She was sworn in yesterday by Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli in his office.
Speculation has been mounting of yet another cabinet reshuffle since the ANC announced Dlamini Zuma’s return to the National Assembly two weeks ago.
Dlamini Zuma is one of several candidates vying to succeed Zuma.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is in the running for the top job as well as Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
The other candidates are the ANC’s treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize and his predecessor, Mathews Phosa.
The race for the ANC top job will be decided in the next three months, with Ramaphosa and Dlamini Zuma leading the charge.
Five ANC provincial chairpersons met in Mpumalanga last week where they discussed the possibility of a single slate and no contestation for the top six positions.