Zuma to Reshuffle Cabinet Again ? After ZuptaGate NEC Conference

SOURCE : IOL Online

Cabinet bloodbath looms
20 March 2016 at 09:23am

Presidency rejects cabinet reshuffle report

Johannesburg -The struggle for control of the state and its networks of patronage will reach boiling point this week when President Jacob Zuma reshuffles his cabinet in the face of stiff opposition inside the ruling party and its alliance.

Independent Media understands that Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies will be the first casualty in Zuma’s cross-hairs, but other names have been floated. Many of those name are linked to growing opposition to Zuma inside the ANC and his cabinet. SACP general secretary and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel and Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas are all likely casualties of the imminent purge.

Zuma: I am in charge of SA

Davies could be replaced by businessman and newly sworn-in MP Sfiso Buthelezi as early as Tuesday. Persons close to Buthelezi have spent the last week preparing the ground for his ascendancy, and on Saturday remained adamant that he would be promoted to the cabinet despite the mutinous mood created by last week’s revelations of the Gupta family’s undue influence on Zuma’s decision-making.

However, Zuma’s plans could scupper the more spirited than expected anti-Gupta fightback in the ANC and SACP.

The SACP last week tried to pre-empt the mooted removal of Davies, who is a member of the party’s central committee, by issuing a statement calling the move “Gupta-inspired”.

The SACP alleged that Davies would be removed to ease the controversial family’s deal to take a stake in steel monopoly, ArcelorMittal, which is locked in a pitched battle with the state - through Davies’s department - over steel prices.

Independent Media understands a cabinet reshuffle was meant to include Jonas, whose revelations about being offered the finance portfolio by the Guptas raised the stakes considerably for Zuma and the family, and may well have stayed their hand, at least temporarily.

Karima Brown talks #Zuptagate and the ANC



Jonas’s current boss, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, could also soon be drawn in, despite the dire financial consequences of fiddling with the finance ministry, demonstrated in December when his predecessor was unceremoniously removed. Zuma’s supporters have been floating a theory that Gordhan was reappointed by Zuma as a stop-gap measure after the December debacle, and would step down by October this year. The stories indicate the determination of the Zuma camp to push for a final reckoning with both Gordhan and Jonas and take complete control of the National Treasury.

Among the institutions affected in the unfolding high stakes game are the Public Investment Corporation chaired by Jonas in his capacity as deputy finance minister, and other state finance corporations. Davies is travelling to Durban on Tuesday and it is understood the minister has not been informed of his pending fate.

While the influence of the Guptas on Zuma and the state was expected to dominate discussions at this weekend’s ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting, this does not appear to have happened. Participants who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Gupta controversy had not been discussed by the time of going to press. They said the NEC had spent the last two days discussing the party’s list and preparations for the upcoming local government elections.

The Guptas also hit back last week through sustained coverage of allegations of their undue influence on the president and the state through their news channel ANN7 and newspaper The New Age. Copies of the newspaper were distributed at the entrance to the conference room where the NEC meeting was taking place in what was interpreted as a bid to influence discussions of the 90-member NEC.

Their coverage created a picture of a factional leadership fight within the ANC which pitted those supporting Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma against a faction supporting the president. It also included a breakdown of their business interests and contracts from the state, a move that appeared intended to counter a report by secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to the NEC about the meeting held between the Guptas and ANC’s top six leaders.

Mantashe has dismissed allegations that he is part of the pro-Ramaphosa factions as depicted by the Guptas, saying their coverage should not be taken seriously as they were the mouthpiece of “the subject matter” at the NEC.

#ANCNEC ‘won't be pushed on Guptas’

Former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola said the meeting had missed an opportunity to remove Zuma. He led a group of picketers outside the St George's Hotel in Irene, near Pretoria, demanding the party recall Zuma as president and call for a special conference to remove him as party leader.

Lamola said it was up to the NEC to restore the confidence of the nation in the party by recalling Zuma. He said while he supported calls for the institution of a commission of inquiry into the influence of the Gupta family in the state, this could be done under an acting president.

“What was important for the meeting was to recall Zuma. The membership of the ANC all over the country must stand up, rise and say these things cannot continue in our name,” he said.

The furore over the Guptas has pitted the tripartite alliance’s youth structures against each other, with the SACP’s Young Communist League calling on the ANCYL president Collen Maine to stop “automatically defending the Guptas”.

“Instead of attacking ANC cadres who have come out openly to disclose their trauma of being offered public or government positions by members of the Gupta family, the ANCYL should call for investigations into the alleged behaviour of those Gupta family members and whoever they are collaborating with,” said YCL national secretary Mluleki Dlelanga.

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SOURCE : IOL Online

20 March 2016 at 15:53pm
By: ANA Reporter

Pretoria - The Presidency on Sunday rejected reports of an impending cabinet reshuffle.

“The presidency wishes to refute the story published by Independent Newspapers about an alleged imminent cabinet reshuffle by the President [Jacob Zuma] during the coming week,” it said in a statement.

“The newspaper said the president is planning to remove from cabinet the Minister in the Presidency Mr Jeff Radebe, Economic Development Minister Mr Ebrahim Patel, Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies, as well as Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade Nzimande.

“The report is mischievous and is clearly designed to sow divisions, uncertainty, and confusion,” it said.

Zuma’s current focus was to implement the programme of action arising from the state-of-the-nation address and the fiscal consolidation programme outlined in the budget speech.

All ministers and departments had been directed to focus on this programme of action.

“The attempts to divert them and cause unease and uncertainty within the national executive of government is rejected outright,” the presidency said.

African News Agency

Admin wrote:“The presidency wishes to refute the story published by Independent Newspapers about an alleged imminent cabinet reshuffle by the President [Jacob Zuma] during the coming week,” it said in a statement.

What does that mean ? Very Little in My view