‘ANC will move speedily on reshuffle’

THE reshuffle of the cabinet will be handled with speed, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said in Pretoria yesterday, following a special meeting of the party’s national executive committee.

He also indicated that President Cyril Ramaphosa had emphasised strongly in an address to the meeting the need for ANC leaders and members “to honour the deployments entrusted to them by the organisation and the need for consequence management where comrades fail to do so”. A cabinet reshuffle looms after Ramaphosa was sworn in as president just more than a week ago, with speculation that poor-performing ministers and those implicated in corruption and state capture scandals are facing the chop.

They include Bathabile Dlamini, Mosebenzi Zwane and Faith Muthambi.

Magashule said a cabinet reshuffle was always the prerogative of the president in or after consultation with the national officials.

The ANC’s top six officials will be meeting today in an ordinary meeting, but Magashule said should the matter arise, it would be discussed there.

He said the party would be moving with speed to address the issue of Ramaphosa’s cabinet, so that there was no anxiety.

The country has been without a deputy president since Ramaphosa was sworn in, and Magashule said who would take up the position of deputy president would be addressed “as we package the entire cabinet”.

“It will be very, very, very soon,” he said.

Business Day reported last week that David Mabuza, Mpumalanga premier and ANC deputy president, had told his provincial cabinet he would be vacating his office soon because of his new responsibilities as ANC deputy president.

A cabinet reshuffle was initially expected before Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba delivered the budget address last week, in which he announced a 1% increase in VAT. Ma-

[ Who will be deputy president ] will be addressed very, very soon

gashule said Ramaphosa had also reflected on the budget delivered, taking note of the constrained fiscal space South Africa found itself in and the need for difficult decisions, including the proposed VAT increase.

The NEC had agreed that the government must consider a further range of measures to alleviate any negative consequences on the poor of the VAT increase, including additions to the list of tax-exempted items.

Magashule said former KwaZuluNatal premier Senzo Mchunu would be deployed full-time in Luthuli House as chairman of organising and campaigns, with Dakota Legoete from North West deployed as his deputy.

Mchunu narrowly lost the position of secretary-general to Magashule at the ANC’s December conference.

Asked if Mchunu had been put there to neutralise his powers, Magashule said the secretary-general’s powers were clear in terms of the ANC’s constitution, and there was no way Mchunu would be deployed to Luthuli House to neutralise his powers.

As part of the host of new permanent appointments at Luthuli House, former ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa will take up his place in the Office of the President to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the party’s resolutions, the performance of its deployees and service delivery.