The Inkatha Freedom Party has long been expecting a presidential cabinet re-shuffle of this nature which is in the final analysis, a constitutionally enshrined sole presidential prerogative.
IFP Chief Whip in Parliament, Mr Narend Singh, MP, said,” Yesterday’s cabinet re-shuffle must be seen in the context of a ruling party and alliance structure that is currently in a deep state of fracture and division. The President, who some suggest is feeling increasingly isolated within his own party, exercised his constitutional prerogative as Head of State and recalled, appointed and moved twenty Ministers and Deputy Ministers,”
“Whether this was done to send a clear message to his many detractors within his own party, to the ANC alliance partners, to strengthen his own succession plan, or benignly as we hope, with the best interests of South Africa at heart, is for the President to explain to the people of South Africa,”
“The removal of the extremely competent and capable former Minister of Finance, Hon. Pravin Gordhan, has already resulted in markets sliding and renewed fears of SA moving into the realm of ‘junk status’,”
“What is surprising and utterly lamentable, is that the Minister of Social Development, who has so recently proven herself to be beyond incompetent and incapable of carrying out her assigned portfolio duties, and who acts in contempt of constitutional court orders, has escaped recall. This could strongly suggest to the reasonable man in the street that the President is conducting a ministerial purge based upon ‘Zuma’ loyalty as the overarching and trumping factor,”
“What is clear though is that the ruling party remains under siege from both within and without. It has been captured, but the stark reality remains that only the ruling party can right this situation. No amount of Motions of No Confidence against President Zuma that are brought in the National Assembly by the opposition parties will succeed without sufficient numbers of ruling party MP support,”
“There is hope though that the tide is turning and that the patriotic voices of reason within the ruling party will now rise up and be counted,” concluded Singh, MP.
Contact:
Mr Narend Singh, MP
IFP Chief Whip in Parliament
083 788 5954
Media Enquiries:
Adv. Anthony Mitchell
076 943 7106
IFP Media, Parliament