Cape Town - The long-awaited reshuffling of the Cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa will happen in a matter of days, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said on Wednesday.
Magwenya said there were vacancies on the Cabinet, including the role of the deputy president of the country.
“There is urgency for the president to fill those vacancies as soon as possible,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Presidency announced the resignation of former deputy president David Mabuza as an ANC MP.
Ramaphosa extended his gratitude and appreciation on behalf of South Africans to Mabuza for his service to the country over the past five years.
“The deputy president has undertaken the responsibilities of his office with dedication. I am grateful for the support he has provided to me throughout his term and for the leadership he has provided to the work of government,” he said.
“His contribution has been valued by the many constituencies with which he has engaged, including traditional leaders, military veterans, civil society formations and international bodies.
“As Leader of Government Business, he ably managed the relationship between the executive and Parliament.
“Here he worked to ensure that the transformative legislative programme of this administration is advanced,” Ramaphosa said.
Parliament also confirmed that Mabuza had tendered his resignation as an MP to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Monday and his resignation was effective immediately.
“The Speaker wishes Mr Mabuza well in his future endeavours and thanked him for his service to the country during his term both as an MP and member of the executive,” parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.
The Presidency said Ramaphosa would make an announcement in due course about the appointment of a new deputy president.
Mabuza’s resignation came a day after Finance Minister Enoch was sworn in as an MP in the place previously occupied by ANC MP Mike Basopu.
It came a few weeks after ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile was sworn in as an MP along with ANC second deputy secretary-general Maropene Ramokgoba, former Gauteng Economic Development MEC (Parks Tau) and former KwaZulu-Natal (premier Sihle Zikalala) at Mapisa-Nqakula’s office.
Mashatile is understood to be set to fill the position left vacant by Mabuza, who was not re-elected to the ANC top leadership, after he expressed his wish to step down last month, but was asked to stay until the transition’s details had been finalised.
Responding to questions on the Cabinet reshuffle, Magwenya said: “In a matter of days an announcement will be made.
“I will say to you ‘be on standby to look for my advisory alerting you to the announcement’”.
Magwenya downplayed fears that Ramaphosa was taking too long to reshuffle his Cabinet.
During his State of the Nation Address Ramaphosa announced that there would be a new minister of electricity to deal with load shedding.
Magwenya said reshuffling a Cabinet was an exercise, a constitutionally-empowered prerogative and Ramaphosa had to apply his mind.
“The appointment of a Cabinet and management of the Cabinet is not something you can conduct in haste,” he said.
Magwenya also said appointment to the Cabinet was something to be carefully considered.
“You have to look at the stability of the government, programmes that are already under way. There are layers of complicity and sensitivity that have to be looked at.”
However, he stated that he was not quite sure whether Ramaphosa would agree that he had taken a long time to make Cabinet reshuffle.
“The work of the government continues. The fact that you still have vacancies has not hindered the work of the government.
“The length of time that has taken him to apply his mind, consult and make a decision has no bearing on the work of the government,” he added.
Cape Times