JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - DECEMBER 20: President Cyril Ramaphosa during the closing of the 55th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) on Day 05 on December 20, 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference elects the party's 80-member National Executive Committee and its top six leaders, including the president. (Photo by Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)
As the ANC prepares for its 8 January celebrations of the party’s founding, all eyes are on President Cyril Ramaphosa to see whether he will wield the axe on his Cabinet and purge his opponents and the “dead wood”.
Two current Cabinet ministers who should surely be in the reshuffle mix are Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu… Will they resign or will they be fired?
Political analyst Xolani Dube said Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dlamini-Zuma and her tourism counterpart Sisulu should have resigned voluntarily to spare Ramaphosa having to fire them.
Dube was straightforward in saying they should not serve under a leader they have claimed is corrupt and who they wanted to be impeached.
“How can they stay in a government run by someone they told us is corrupt because of Phala Phala? These ministers must follow their consciences and do the honourable thing.”
He said the two should have resigned immediately after Ramaphosa’s triumph at the ANC’s elective conference at Nasrec.
He maintained neither Ramaphosa nor the ANC had spoken ill of the constitution, which was the cornerstone of the country’s law, that it was Sisulu who attacked the constitution by declaring it useless and the country’s judges colonialism puppets.
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“She has got a lot of time now to advocate for what she has been telling us … outside of the government. The minister has a responsibility now to be honest and resign, unless she is a princess with a double agenda,” Dube said.
He said Ramaphosa should not allow Dlamini-Zuma to stay in his Cabinet after she voted for him to be impeached.
“All those who opposed Cyril should just leave… They must learn from Terror Lekota and others from the [former president Thabo] Mbeki regime – they resigned and left when Jacob Zuma took over,” Dube said.
With some of the “old guard” of the ANC not making it onto the national executive committee (NEC), some believed the ANC and the state would be further weakened if they left, as inexperienced members could be appointed to fill the gaps.
They said politicians such as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, ANC policy guru and former Cabinet minister Jeff Radebe and long-serving NEC strategist Joel Netshitenzhe, as well as former Cabinet minister Derek Hanekom (who did not stand for re-election) were crucial allies for Ramaphosa.
Gordhan was at the forefront in the fight against state capture, while Netshitenzhe and Hanekom were a bulwark in defending the president against radical economic transformation opponents.
Some said the president couldn’t just let them go but should find a way to accommodate them, particularly Pandor and Gordhan.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said Ramaphosa still had loyalists remaining on the NEC and some as functionaries in the party.
“His political bodyguards are Gwede Mantashe, [secretary-general] Fikile Mbalula and [ANC electoral committee chair] Kgalema Motlanthe.
“Gwede is now the de facto prime minister and controller of the minerals and energy complex. “Both directions will move forward – Gwede will have his coal, nuclear and fracking projects, including ocean exploration and mining.
Cyril will have his green hydrogen, solar and wind projects.” Besides, said Swana, Ramaphosa had overwhelming support in both the top seven and the NEC.
“But as always there are many conflicting material interests as the gravy train is now in jeopardy, everyone wants padkos. Those who were ‘accidentally’ left out of the CR22 slate were probably guillotined by Mantashe and Mbalula.”
Historian and heritage analyst Dr George Tsibani said Ramaphosa had no option but to ring changes, especially in the crippled local government.
Local government development had begun to be consolidated in 2005 during the Sydney Mufamadi years as minister of provincial and local government under the Mbeki administration.
“All these gains were totally reversed, [with] the weakest links are governance and political interferences.”
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