Fourth axed minister quits Parliament
THE ANC caucus in Parliament are in the dark as to why the former ministers sacked by President Jacob Zuma in the recent cabinet reshuffle quit as parliamentarians.
This is according to ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu.
He said the party’s parliamentarians had sent their resignations to Parliament and informed them out of courtesy.
“The ANC has nothing to do with resignations. We get informed and respond,” Mthembu said.
He made these comments after former public service and administration minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi yesterday quit Parliament after being sacked from Zuma’s cabinet last month.
He joined three others – Dipuo Peters, Mcebisi Jonas and Tina Joemat-Pettersson – who were axed by Zuma and had their resignations backdated to March 31.
Ramatlhodi was not immediately available for comment, but his colleagues’ resignations had fuelled speculation that they wanted to preserve their pension payouts at a ministerial level, and cash in on the “loss of office gratuity” – four months pensionable salary for every five years of service.
In a statement, Mthembu said Ramatlhodi was grateful that he had been allowed to serve the public and the ANC in Parliament.
“On behalf of the ANC in Parliament‚ we thank Comrade Ramatlhodi for his selfless service to the movement as a public representative. He has served as minister and MP with absolute distinction and dedication. We are confident he will continue serving the movement in other capacities in future. We wish him well in his future endeavours‚” he said.
Ramatlhodi was quoted as saying that he was not informed about his sacking, but only learnt about it via the media.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said some of the axed ministers could have been unhappy with the manner in which Zuma did the reshuffling, especially if they were not given reasons why he dumped them.
Pressure to toe the party line and questions being asked about underperforming ministers still holding their positions could have added to their decision to quit ahead of the motion of no confidence against Zuma.
“Personal reasons and better pension deals could also feature,” Fikeni said.