Cabinet reshuffle mainly to take revenge on SACP

17 October 2017

President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle earlier today is mainly a ploy to take revenge on the South African Communist Party (SACP) by getting rid of Dr Blade Nzimande, says Dr Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus.

According to Dr Groenewald, everyone knows that the SACP is critical of President Zuma and that is what prompted the reshuffle.

Dr Groenewald says that it is clear that moving David Mahlobo, the former Minister of State Security, to the portfolio of Energy is an attempt to execute the nuclear power plan and to keep the promises that were made to the Russian leader, Vladimer Putin.

“This must be a desperate move as it is general knowledge that Mahlobo is a stout Zuma supporter that will do anything Zuma asks.

“Just yesterday, the Minister of Finance said that South Africa does not have the financial means to execute the nuclear power plan, but clearly the President did not get the message.

“The new Minister of State Security, Bongani Bongo, was appointed to ensure that President Zuma retains control of this, and other related, institutions so as to protect himself and so that the institutions can be used to the benefit of the Zuma faction during the 2019 elections.

“Bongo is actually a backbencher who only joined parliament in 2014, and he is an inexperienced politician. Thus far, the ANC had only used him in ad hoc parliamentary committees, like the one that appointed the current Public Protector (PP) and then he served on the committee responsible for the funding of political parties.

“He comes from Mpumalanga and it seems as if the move is an attempt by the President to try and gain more influence over the province, which is going to send the second most delegates to the ANC’s election conference in December.

“Today’s reshuffle does not mean that President Zuma will not make any further changes before December, one of which may possibly be to replace the current deputy-president, Cyril Ramaphosa, with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,” says Dr Groenewald.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus Leader, 17 October 2017