The Citizen (Gauteng)

‘Get rid of them’

LOOTING: SECURITY MINISTERS DISCREDIT PRESIDENT AND HIS CLAIMS OF ATTEMPTED COUP

- Eric Naki – ericn@citizen.co.za

President Cyril Ramaphosa is under pressure to fire Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo, who both publicly discredite­d his claims of a coup, as well as Police Minister Bheki Cele, after criticism they all failed to prevent and contain the recent unrest.

Calls grow for Ramaphosa to show backbone and get rid of Cele, Dlodlo and Mapisa-Nqakula.

Any president should be worried and act when his defence and state security ministers contradict him publicly – and now is the time for President Cyril Ramaphosa to show he has backbone and get rid of them.

Ramaphosa is under pressure not only within the ruling ANC, but also from the public to fire Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and Police Minister Bheki Cele.

But he is facing a dilemma: Cele was one of his foot soldiers, particular­ly in KwaZulu-Natal.

The ministers embarrasse­d the president by implying he was a liar about the violence being part of an failed insurrecti­on or a coup and refuted his claims publicly. Ramaphosa was hung out to dry, defending his statement.

The onslaught continued yesterday with KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli also publicly stating Ramaphosa’s “insurrecti­on” statement was in fact an “exaggerati­on” of the situation.

Both Mapisa-Nqakula and Dlodlo continuous­ly insisted the violence had nothing to do with a coup. But Mapisa-Nqakula was challenged by her deputy, Thabang Makwetla, who said she was wrong. As her deputy, she had the same informatio­n as Ramaphosa about an insurrecti­on attempt.

Makwetla, a Ramaphosa loyalist, said the top brass of the SA National Defence Force could not have told the president and minister “different stories” about the existence of an insurrecti­on.

Mapisa-Nqakula reportedly made a U-turn yesterday, saying she was not trying to go against Ramaphosa. “The president has spoken. It was an attempted insurrecti­on. I confined myself to [the term] counter-revolution­ary but ultimately, remember, any element of counter-revolution ultimately may as well lead to insurrecti­on in a country.”

She said she used the term counter-revolution because it was defined as “underminin­g all authoritie­s of the state and country”.

Independen­t political commentato­r and former Azanian Peoples Organisati­on leader Pule Monama said the three must go.

“I strongly believe Ramaphosa must try and find a job as an ice cream seller, that way he will succeed in pleasing all and sundry.

“Clearly there is a big disconnect between himself and his Cabinet, especially the most important state security cluster.

“Several times now members of this cluster have publicly and embarrassi­ngly contradict­ed him,” he said.

People’s Liberation (PL), a civil society body, echoed the call for Ramaphosa to reshuffle his Cabinet and fire 80% of his ministers as a matter of urgency.

PL’s chair Phumudzo Mukhwathi said: “We are calling for the president to fire ministers Cele, Mapisa-Nqakula and Dlodlo, as well as Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, for betraying the South African citizens and our economy.”

Mukhwathi said a well-organised economic sabotage began a long time ago with the vandalism of trains, cable theft, the burning of trucks on highways and an increased number of cash heists that Cele failed to deal with.

Gauteng premier David lashed out at the security cluster for their shoddy handling of the violence and looting that occurred in Gauteng, despite informatio­n the province gave them.

He said the mayhem was not a surprise as they received informatio­n that malls and road would be targeted.

“There were physical meetings, we handed informatio­n to the security establishm­ents but intelligen­ce and security was paralysed. Why?” Makhura said.

He asked for the security establishm­ent to account for their failure.

“SA has no state security functional­ity … and we at risk to terrorist and internatio­nal groups and organisati­ons.

“If it was not for the organisati­ons on the ground who saved the day, we would have a very different story today,” he said.

The Cabinet remained divided with Mapisa-Nqakula, Dlodlo and now the KwaZulu-Natal ANC standing on one side, with Ramaphosa and his allies – Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Makwetla and Makhura – on the other side.

Cele was fingered for the police being lax in dealing with lawlessnes­s, first in Nkandla and again during the violence and looting that followed.

Dlodlo insisted the intelligen­ce structure had done its job to inform the police, but they failed to act.

But, in some quarters, Dlodlo’s version was disputed, as her spooks allegedly failed to pass on informatio­n about a plan to spread the violence and economic sabotage by hijacking freight trucks and using them to blockade arterial roads.

Her intelligen­ce department was accused of failing to predict the violence and looting would spread to Gauteng.

Cele, Dlodlo and Mapisa-Nqakula were nowhere to be seen at the height of the looting.

Cele’s “disappeara­nce” was hailed by Zuma supporters on Twitter.

Ramaphosa must try and find a job as an ice cream seller

 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ?? Pictures: Gallo Images ?? TROUBLESOM­E TRIO. Police Minister Bheki Cele, top, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, left, and Minister of State and Security Ayanda Dlodlo.
Pictures: Gallo Images TROUBLESOM­E TRIO. Police Minister Bheki Cele, top, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, left, and Minister of State and Security Ayanda Dlodlo.
 ?? Picture: Michel Bega ?? FORCEFUL. Members of the SA National Defence Force at Maponya Mall in Soweto at the height of the looting in Gauteng. But President Cyril Ramaphosa is criticised by some in his Cabinet for speaking about an attempted ‘coup’.
Picture: Michel Bega FORCEFUL. Members of the SA National Defence Force at Maponya Mall in Soweto at the height of the looting in Gauteng. But President Cyril Ramaphosa is criticised by some in his Cabinet for speaking about an attempted ‘coup’.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa