African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has confirmed that the Cabinet reshuffle issue will be “wrapped up” by the end of February.
Mbalula said this during an ANC media briefing on Tuesday after the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
Mbalula defended President Cyril Ramaphosa against those who criticized him for “taking so long” to reshuffle his cabinet, saying the party was busy with other matters.
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“There is no delay about the reshuffle or anything. We have resolved the 8th of January, we have produced the 8th of January, we have resolved the resolution and we have reorganized the NEC,” said Mbalula.
“We have completed the conference resolution, it is ready to be printed. Now we are developing an action program. That is what we are doing.
“And, from the government, we have the Nation’s State Address (Sona), we have the budget and then all these problems obviously have to have an answer and they will be closed.
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“We can’t have a situation where the government and the ruling party hang things up without a conclusion. All this, we have imagined that it will end in February.
Mbalula said Ramaphosa applied his thinking on “many issues”.
‘Vice president’ Paul Mashatile
Mbalula further said that while South Africans are not mistaken in assuming ANC vice president Paul Mashatile will automatically become the country’s vice president, Ramaphosa could have taken a different route.
“Our people expect that Paul Mashatile will fill the position of vice president, but that prerogative remains the president. If the president comes tomorrow and says something different, he will explain to the ANC, why it is different and that is not the case.
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“There is no ulterior motive to harm anyone, including ANC vice-president Paul Mashatile. But our process also does not say if you are the vice-president of the ANC, you will be the vice-president of the country.
“In terms of decency and stability in the organization, we have had nothing different over the years, so your expectation that Mashatile will occupy that position is not too far off, unless something happens. It has happened before. It is not a tradition, but a convention – the unwritten law.
Mashatile was sworn in as a Member of Parliament (MP) earlier this month, after being nominated by the ruling party to fill the seat of former ANC MP Tshilidzi Munyai, who resigned late last month.
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