‘Reshuffles my domain only’

President Jacob Zuma, pictured, told MPs yesterday he did not have to provide reasons for a Cabinet reshuffle and that those looking for them were searching “for a needle in a prairie”.

Answering questions in the National Council of Provinces, Zuma said none of his 11 Cabinet reshuffles to date had defied logic.

“There are no decisions that have defied logic – nothing of that nature. Throughout the world, generally reasons why heads of state change ministers is their decision.

“[It’s] very rare that they will say what the reasons are and how do you say their decisions defy logic. It’s not true,” the president responded when pushed to provide reasons for his reshuffle of ministers, including replacing Pravin Gordhan with Malusi Gigaba as finance minister and replacing Blade Nzimande with Hlengiwe Mkhize in the higher education portfolio.

“It is not only because ministers are lazy. There are other reasons that lead to presidents taking decisions. Therefore, to try and find the reasons is really looking for a needle in a prairie.”

Opposition MPs called Zuma’s cabinet shake-up irrational, with opposition Democratic Alliance MP Leon Magwebu saying he did it to serve his own interests relating to “corruption, maladministration and abuse of power”.

Zuma’s response was that Magwebu was peddling propaganda. “His assumptions are his assumptions, not necessarily correct assumptions,” he added.

The reshuffles have angered the ANC alliance partners, most notably the SA Communist Party of which Nzimande is general secretary.

The SACP and the third member of the tripartite alliance, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, have called for Zuma to step down. The SACP has also threatened to go it alone in the 2019 elections.

The ANC elective conference in December will see Zuma replaced as party president, but not as president of the country.