Deputy President David Mabuza responds to Questions for Oral Reply in the National Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town, 27 February 2019. Picture: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS
At a Q&A in parliament on Tuesday, Deputy President David “DD” Mabuza made a statement about Finance Minister Tito Mboweni which has caused a stir on Twitter. Mabuza said: “I don’t really take the minister of finance seriously when he’s making comments”, adding that when the minister tweets, “it’s not a government position”.
Mabuza was discussing the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, something the finance minister has tweeted about in his personal capacity.
“I don’t think that’s the way we should approach this debate, whether there are certain entities that must be privatised, certain SOEs, this debate must not be approach this way,” the deputy president said.
“I don’t really take the minister of finance seriously when he’s making comments. These are his own comments,” he continued.
“We will take the minister serious when he’s articulating government positions. But when he’s talking about his views, when he’s tweeting, that is his own… I’m not going to entertain a tweet from the minister.”
Mabuza’s comments caused a stir on social media, inspiring comment from, among others, EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, former Financial Mail editor Barney Mthombothi, former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko, and 702 and Cape Talk presenter Bongani Bingwa.
READ MORE: Mboweni ‘confuses the public’ on Twitter – Mabuza
Shivambu simply posted a link to a video of Mabuza’s words, while Mthombothi asked why the public should take Mboweni seriously if even the deputy president doesn’t. Bingwa, meanwhile, said Mabuza “puts his foot in his mouth” every time he speaks in parliament.
Several Twitter users said Mabuza was right about Mboweni, while others said they didn’t take the deputy president seriously either.
Mboweni, who is currently in Zimbabwe for the Binational Commission, which seeks to strengthen ties between South Africa and its neighbour, has not yet responded.
Mboweni has advocated for greater socialisation of capital on Twitter. He trended in April, 2018, for a series of tweets in which he typed up a short prayer asking for leaders to open their eyes and ears and “do four things”.
“The state must own 40% of mining companies, start a state bank, implement appropriate land use planning, and create a sovereign wealth fund. That is radical economic transformation!”
Mboweni explained that, in his opinion, appropriate land use planning would involve demarcating land clearly for: “housing, agriculture, grazing, forestry, tourism, leisure, schooling, hospitals, etc. Now, before people do their own will.”
He added the most urgent task in this respect would be to: “allocate land immediately for residential purposes. Urgent. Really URGENT!!”
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