Ramaphosa’s office ‘not aware’ of Nene’s request to be fired – report

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office is not aware of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene approaching Ramaphosa over the weekend to ask him to relieve him of his duties.

It was reported that Nene had telephoned Ramaphosa at the weekend requesting that the president sack him as finance minister following revelations that Nene had had a number of meetings with the controversial Gupta brothers, allegedly at the centre of state capture.

Reuters reports that Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko said the presidency was not aware of the request.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have called on Ramaphosa to accept Nene’s offer to resign.

Since the revelations that the finance minister had met with the Guptas on seven occasions, there has been a lot of speculation about how long the minister will remain in his position.

This has left the nation wondering who will be appointed to the role of South Africa’s new finance minister, with MEC for finance in Gauteng Barbara Creecy and deputy finance minister Mondli Gungubele tipped as possible replacements.

The Nene saga led to some on social media calling for the minister of finance to step down, while others suggested that African National Congress ministers who had met the Guptas or were implicated in state capture should be axed by Ramaphosa.

Until every single minister and official contaminated with the Gupta virus is quarantined the government remains infected. There cannot ever be a new start until this happens. They continue to cast a long shadow over the ANC. Period. #Nene #Guptas #StateCapture #ANC #Ramaphosa

— Simon Grindrod (@SimonPGrindrod) October 8, 2018

Prof @ThuliMadonsela3,in your report u said it was worrying that Mr VanRooyen was at Saxonworld at least 7 times. Today we know that Mr #Nene has been to Saxonworld at least 7 times also, however your response is different "Too early to question Nene's integrity" #StateCapture pic.twitter.com/uQBrXXvA40

— Dr Sanele Sano Ngcobo🇿🇦 (@sanosanele) October 8, 2018

Another user, @norman98490402, questioned why former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s investigations, which led to her State of Capture report that blew the lid on the Guptas’ alleged shenanigans with government officials and ministers, had failed to reveal that Nene had met with the controversial businessmen.

What I don't get is why Thuli Madonsela's investigation did not pick up on Nenes frequent visits to the Guptas 🤔? Selective investigation?? #Nene

— Powertothepeople (@norman98490402) October 8, 2018

Listening to callers to @imanrappetti defending #Nene. It seems "some among us" are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Nene lied when he had no reason to. He lied because he knew it was just not right to visit Guptas at their beckoning as many times as he did. He must go…

— Maggs Naidu ᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠᅠ (@maggsnaidu) October 8, 2018

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