Another CR dilly dallying tactic

Nation kept waiting for reshuffle as he takes sickie and is later spotted at Ankole auction

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s “dilly-dallying” tactics over his Cabinet reshuffle have come back to haunt him.

This is after Ramaphosa received criticism for having reported sick on Tuesday but was later found to have attended an Ankole auction at his Ntaba Nyoni farm in Limpopo.

Ramaphosa, who will be announcing a reshuffle of his Cabinet this evening, reported sick with a bout of flu, which has sent shockwaves across the country, with many slamming the president for putting issues of national importance on the back-burner.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed reports that the president had a mild cold but denied that some of the postponements to his Cabinet reshuffle were due to ill health.

However, when it emerged that Ramaphosa had appeared at an auction on Friday, the nation reacted with shock and fury as the president continued to put the country on hold while he attended to his own business interests.

Ramaphosa reportedly addressed a gathering of the Ankole society as the event’s keynote speaker just days after reporting sick and unable to address matters of national importance.

Yesterday, Magwenya said the president would announce his Cabinet reshuffle today.

“Having exercised his constitutional prerogative, the president will announce the new national executive at 7pm on Monday (today), Magwenya said.

“This will reinforce the government’s focus, as the president announced at the State of the Nation Address (Sona), on those actions that will make a meaningful difference now that will enable real progress in the next year and will lay the foundation for sustained recovery into the future,” he added.

One SA leader Mmusi Maimane said even the worst bout of flu would not be enough to stop the president from announcing changes to his Cabinet, adding that there might be more than meets the eye in this matter.

“Flu can be tough, but are we really expected to believe that the Cabinet reshuffle that has been spoken about for months has been delayed by the cold?

“There seems to be more at play here ... We were told that the Cabinet reshuffle is delayed because the president is down with a cold.

“Yet the same president had the energy to attend an Ankole auction. Are we being taken seriously? Are we being respected by the head of state?

“The reason so many citizens are interested in the reshuffle is because things are falling apart.

“We see daily reports of daylight murders.

“We live daily through eight or more hours of power blackouts.

“The classrooms in this country are falling apart. Hospital lines are too long,” Maimane said.

Speaking to the SABC legal expert, Mpumelelo Zikalala said the president was ill-advised by those within his office, as it looked as if he does not take his oath of office to serve and protect the country ahead of his business interests.

“When you agree to be the president or deputy president or minister or deputy minister, you can’t partake in any other activity that is going to put you in a conflict or create the perception that you may be furthering your interests.

“How does it look? You can attend to private Ankole trading activities, but you can’t attend to the Cabinet reshuffle when you have the vacancy of the second-in-command, the deputy president, who is no longer there, and the position of minister of electricity, which was promised 20 days ago but has not been filled.

“Now that I am sitting at home, I am of the perception that maybe we do not have a president that has our interests at heart,” Zikalala said.

National Metalworkers Union SA (Numsa) spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said that this was a clear indication of how Ramaphosa doesn’t take the country seriously.

“President Ramaphosa clearly does not want to be president any more, guys

Let us do him a favour and help him to resign,” she said.

African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula said: “Mr Ramaphosa’s lies and deceit are birds of the same feather.

“The ATM is not surprised and, in fact, would encourage him to resign and follow his passion at his farm instead of misruling the country.

“This is not the first time he has undermined and shown disdain for South Africans.

“The imminent Cabinet reshuffle will not make any difference. Ramaphosa and the ANC must all go.”