Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 27-02-2018
Political analyst Professor Andre Duvenhage has told Radio Islam that David Mabuza may not have been President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first choice to be deputy president of the country.
Ramaphosa announced the changes in a late-night address at the Union Buildings on Monday night.
It was bound to be a tough challenge for Ramaphosa, as he moved to strengthen his team in government and appease his supporters who backed him in the race for the African National Congress (ANC) presidency.
Ramaphosa appointed ANC Deputy President David Mabuza as his second in command, fired ten ministers and moved others to new portfolios while retaining some others.
Duvenhage says while Mabuza is a key figure in the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC, he may be manipulating his positon to gain certain advances.
He says Ramaphosa may have preferred another candidate as Deputy President.
“I think he would like to go with the likes of the Naledi Pandor’s, maybe even the Senzo Mchunu’s and these types of people. But unfortunately the power relationship within the ANC is problematic and if you ask Cyril today, if he is in a honeymoon phase as president of the country, I think he’s going to give us the opposite view.”
Duvenhage says the cabinet reshuffle by President Ramaphosa was not an easy process.
He says while Ramaphosa’s body language was professional during the cabinet reshuffle, everything did not go according to plan.
“It seems that even minutes before the finalisation there was still conflict about who should be appointed.”
Duvenhage says while the cabinet reshuffle by Ramaphosa is a mix of good and bad ministers every cabinet will have executives with heavy political interests.
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