Ramaphosa gives his ministers one last hearing

President Cyril Ramaphosa is under pressure to reshuffle his cabinet within days.

Those he intends to appoint into the national executive, including ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile are scheduled to be sworn in as MPs in Parliament on Monday. 

Deputy president David Mabuza noticeable absence during the cabinet’s first biannual planning meeting on Thursday, a sign of his lack of  appetite to continue serving as Ramaphosa’s deputy and the head of government business. 

Business Day confirmed in January that Mabuza offered to resign following the change of guard at the ANC’s national conference in December.

“The deputy president tendered his apology for the cabinet lekgotla due to a family bereavement. The deputy president lost his brother and is engaged with preparations for the funeral,” Mabuza’s spokesperson Matsepo Seedat said. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the lekgotla, minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele confirmed Mabuza's absence.

"The deputy president has got no history of behaving like a truant or going awol. He is a deputy president who has respected his work and I view him in that context and respect his apology on the basis of that history and the knowledge I have of him.”

Ramaphosa must now decide if he will stand to deliver the State of the Nation Address on Thursday backed by a national executive that will resuscitate his reform agenda amid rising cost of living and the worst power blackouts since loadshedding began in 2008.

While the SONA is ordinary the focus of the Cabinet lekgotla, this week’s also will serve as the final opportunity for Ramaphosa to assess the performance of his ministers.

It may also be a final opportunity for Ramaphosa’s critics, among them Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, to have their say.

Sisulu has been embroiled in controversy in recent days over a an almost R1 billion sponsorship of international football team Tottenham Hotspur.

The minister has called the report inaccurate, malicious and cited the proposal was made in 2017, before she was appointed as tourism minister

The South African Tourism (SAT) CEO Mzilikazi Themba Khumalo defended the proposed sponsorship deal on Thursday.

But added that there was no signed contract yet, but that the SAT board had conditionally approved the deal.

This cabinet reshuffle also comes just ahead of the 2024 general elections and the performance of the ministers Ramaphosa appoints could seal the ANC’s fate. The governing party having lost electoral successive elections is on track to loose its majority at the polls. 

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On 02 Feb 2023, at 18:06, Hajra Omarjee <OmarjeeH@businesslive.co.za> wrote:

President Cyril Ramaphosa is under pressure to reshuffle his cabinet within days.

Those he intends to appoint into the national executive, including ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile are scheduled to be sworn in as MPs in Parliament on Monday. 

Deputy president David Mabuza noticeable absence during the cabinet’s first biannual planning meeting on Thursday, a sign of his appetite to continue serving as Ramaphosa’s deputy and the head of government business.

Business Day confirmed in January that Mabuza offered to resign following the change of guard at the ANC’s national conference in December.

“The deputy president tendered his apology for the cabinet lekgotla due to a family bereavement. The deputy president lost his brother and is engaged with preparations for the funeral,” Mabuza’s spokesperson Matsepo Seedat said. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the lekgotla, minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele confirmed Mabuza's absence.

"The deputy president has got no history of behaving like a truant or going awol. He is a deputy president who has respected his work and I view him in that context and respect his apology on the basis of that history and the knowledge I have of him.”

Ramaphosa must now decide if he will stand to deliver the State of the Nation Address on Thursday backed by a national executive that will resuscitate his reform agenda amid rising cost of living and the worst power blackouts since loadshedding began in 2008.

While the SONA is ordinary the focus of the Cabinet lekgotla, this week’s also will serve as the final opportunity for Ramaphosa to assess the performance of his ministers.

It may also be a final opportunity for Ramaphosa’s critics, among them Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, to have their say.

Sisulu has been embroiled in controversy in recent days over a an almost R1 billion sponsorship of international football team Tottenham Hotspur.

The minister has called the report inaccurate, malicious and cited the proposal was made in 2017, before she was appointed as tourism minister

The South African Tourism (SAT) CEO Mzilikazi Themba Khumalo defended the proposed sponsorship deal on Thursday.

But added that there was no signed contract yet, but that the SAT board had conditionally approved the deal.

This cabinet reshuffle also comes just ahead of the 2024 general elections and the performance of the ministers Ramaphosa appoints could seal the ANC’s fate. The governing party having lost electoral successive elections is on track to loose its majority at the polls.