Cyril Ramaphosa new Cabinet gets big no from the opposition

PRETORIA 

South African opposition parties have slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first Cabinet, saying it was a “fatal compromise”.

President Ramaphosa announced his Cabinet on Monday, after taking over South Africa’s top job a fortnight ago.

He named controversial African National Congress (ANC) deputy, Mr David Mabuza, second in command at State level.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Mr Mmusi Maimane, said Cabinet remains filled with compromised ministers, Gupta loyalists and corruption accused.

MABUZA

“Ramaphosa’s decision to side with scandal-ridden Mabuza undermines the integrity of his stated commitment to fight corruption and rebuild from the tatters of the Zuma decade. There is no doubt that David Mabuza is unfit to be the deputy president of South Africa,” Mr Maimane said.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said it rejected the Cabinet, adding that the new South African leader bowed to factional pressure in the ANC.

Ms Dlamini, formerly of Social Development, is now minister of Women in the Presidency, while former Finance minister Malusi Gigaba returns to Home Affairs.

“Above all is Gigaba, whose state capture crimes come close to treason as he facilitated the handing over of state institutions to a foreign nationals in the form of the Guptas. To keep such characters in the Cabinet is a direct rejection of the constitutional order;  Gigaba lied under oath, in a court of law,” Dr Ndlozi said.

“Bathabile Dlamini has essentially been rewarded with a promotion into the presidency regardless of the fact that she nearly collapsed the social grants system for the poor,” said EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

NDLOZI

The opposition, however, welcomed the sacking of allegedly incompetent ministers Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, Des van Rooyen, David Mahlobo, Lynne Brown and Bongani Bongo. The return of former Finance minister Pravin Gordhan as minister for Public Enterprises was applauded.

Mr Nhlanhla Nene, sacked by ex-president Jacob Zuma from the Finance portfolio in 2015, returns to head the Finance ministry.

“Nene’s first action as Finance minister must be to reverse the increase in VAT and transport levies, and introduce a range of spending cuts to plug the deficit in our public finances,” Mr Maimane charged.

Dr Ndlozi called on South Africans to reject the entire ANC and vote it all out in the 2019 national elections.  “His (Ramaphosa) inability to dispense with individuals implicated in corruption is evidence that no one can save ANC from corruption. It is entangled for good,” he said. The most significant appointments were those of Mr Nene and Mr Gordhan who will oversee the country’s vast but troubled state-owned enterprises.

Mr Nene’s promotion is particularly symbolic as Mr Zuma sacked him in December 2015, replacing the respected minister with an unknown novice causing the local rand currency to tank as markets went into free-fall.

Four days later, Mr Gordhan was appointed to the role to calm the markets. Mr Nene’s return to the finance ministry was a clear repudiation of Zuma’s reign, and was warmly welcomed by local business and international investors.

NENE

The rand gained as much as 0.8 per cent against the dollar on reports Nene was to be appointed. It continued to strengthen on Tuesday, trading at 11.64 rand to the greenback by 1000 GMT.

Mr Ramaphosa’s controversial pick for deputy president, Mr David Mabuza, the current premier of Mpumalanga province who has faced allegations of ties to political violence but has never been convicted, caused concerns among some observers.

“The whole cabinet is clearly a compromise because he had to keep some of the people in the ANC happy. This was probably the best he could do,” said political analyst Mari Harris.

Ramaphosa described it as “a transitional cabinet” on Tuesday. “We’ve got some really good people,” he said.

Mr Ramaphosa made a total of 30 changes to ministerial and deputy ministerial positions after graft-tainted Zuma was forced to resign by the ruling ANC party earlier this month.

Several Zuma allies were demoted or sacked — but Mr Zuma’s ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was appointed minister to the presidency, responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation. President Ramaphosa narrowly beat Ms Dlamini-Zuma in a fierce contest to be elected the new leader of the ANC in December.