Ramaphosa will not fire ineffective ministers ahead of elective conference, says DA

Make no mistake, while President Cyril Ramaphosa chooses to not rock the boat in spite of the knowledge that some of his Cabinet are failing at their jobs and treating it like nothing is wrong, South Africa will continue to suffer and endure the growing poverty, joblessness and instability.

With the December ANC conference rapidly approaching, his inaction has served as an indication that this will not be the year of firing for Ramaphosa.

“There was a lack of political will on the side of ANC to act and the one cadre is not acting against the other,” political analyst André Duvenhage said.

Could the reason be linked to this year’s ANC conference and who would vote for him, was the golden question.

Duvenhage said Ramaphosa may have tried to do something but there were more strategic risks for him and his role in the party. He had made a strategic decision not to make any Cabinet changes before the conference.

“The problem in the ANC is bigger than Ramaphosa can handle and this may come at a very big price for him at the conference,” he said “I think he is a favourite candidate but the way he dealt with these types of prosecutions, in particular the findings of the Zondo commission, could be very critical for his survival.”

According to Duvenhage, the lack of prosecutions from the Zondo commission was telling, which was a real danger for democracy and the rule of law.

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But there was no strong candidate to oppose Ramaphosa at the conference, despite the hard decisions he had to make, which made his position in the party more difficult.

“There are risks for him in person and risks in terms of his political career with how he has dealt with things,” he said.

“I believe he will get rid of a number of people but … only after the conference. Unfortunately, SA is paying the price.”

In March, the Democratic Alliance (DA) issued what it called an evaluation of how ministers had performed against the performance agreements they signed in 2020.

DA leader John Steenhuisen handed Ramaphosa’s ANC Cabinet low scores for performance and accused the president of failing to hold the ministers accountable.

Of 28, only three achieved 50% of their targets.

Ministers such as Gwede Mantashe, Lindiwe Sisulu and Patricia de Lille received low scores.

“The obvious solution is for him to replace most of his ministers. A reshuffle of the same useless individuals will not constitute action and will do nothing to solve South Africa’s fast-growing problems,” he said.

DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said the split between the radical economic transformation and Ramaphosa factions resulted in him doing his best to “not rock the boat”.

“It’s the DA’s opinion if he got rid of the dead weight, he would be proving a lot more how he was serious about his threats on corruption,” she said “It is quite true there are MPs who just don’t know what they are doing, come and go as they please and action is not taken against them.”

Mazzone said the problem was the cadre deployment committee of the ANC because it was responsible for appointing cadres to their positions.

“Until we make sure the cadre deployment committee is done away with, the president’s hands are actually tied,” she said. “Ramaphosa is trying to keep everyone happy as it’s a congress year for them.

“If he showed his strength by firing a few people, he would get a lot more support, especially from people who are sitting on the sidelines.”