Zuma says shuffle was to give youth a chance
ON THE same day the North Gauteng High Court ordered President Jacob Zuma to furnish the DA with records and reasons for the cabinet reshuffle, the president spoke about the matter at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban.
At the forum, Zuma revealed that part of the reason he reshuffled his cabinet was to give younger people a chance at leadership and prepare them for the future.
Yesterday, Judge Bashier Vally gave Zuma five days to furnish the DA with records and reasons for the cabinet reshuffle.
Zuma allegedly relied on an intelligence report when he sacked Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas after recalling them from an overseas investment roadshow.
Gordhan lambasted the intelligence report as “absolute nonsense” and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa objected to the report‚ saying it was “totally‚ totally unacceptable” for Zuma to fire his finance minister based on such “spurious allegations”.
Yesterday Zuma, speaking at the forum, said there was always a process of involving young people in government and in organisations.
Zuma said: “Not [a] long time ago I had a reshuffle of government. I put [in] a lot of young people particularly to implement that idea and of course other people will have different views.
“It is the determination of youth that is absolutely important. The youth itself must participate very seriously to change the future for themselves‚ together with the elders.”
His comments came after he was challenged by young people about the African Union’s “Agenda 2063”‚ with some in the audience saying 2063 was too far away to achieve meaningful participation of young people.
Agenda 2063 is an AU-conceived strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent.
It seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.
According to the AU‚ it provides a robust framework for addressing past injustices and the realisation of the 21st century as the African century. Daudo Vali of Global Shapers Maputo told Zuma and WEF chair Klaus Schwab – who was moderating the “Africa in the New Global Context” plenary – that by 2063 he would be 76 and his daughter would be 46. This made it impossible for him to achieve his goals as a young person.
The Mozambican said that what compounded the matter was that many governments still rolled tanks towards young people demanding changes. He asked how the process could be accelerated. — TMG