Audio By Carbonatix
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is considering making changes to his cabinet after he meets the ruling party’s leadership this weekend, people familiar with the deliberations said.
The meeting could be a showdown between the president and his rivals within the African National Congress, the people said, asking not to be identified as a public statement hasn’t been made.
Ramaphosa is looking for ways to revive South Africa’s stagnant economy and help boost investor confidence in his administration.
The economy, already in recession before the coronavirus outbreak struck, is forecast to contract 7.2% this year, according to the Treasury.
Ramaphosa has talked of the urgent need for reforms to revive output, but the slow pace of government policy changes needed to approve everything from new renewable-energy plants to the sale of telecommunications spectrum has drawn criticism from business leaders and labor unions.
No decisions have been made on any change of cabinet ministers, the people said. The president hasn’t discussed any potential changes with the top six officials of the ruling African National Congress, as is customary, one of the people said.
Presidency spokesman Tyrone Seale referred a request for comment to ANC spokesman Pule Mabe, who asked that questions be sent by text messages, to which he didn’t immediately respond.
Slow Reforms
The collapse of South Africa’s economy, partly due to the pandemic, has been exacerbated by the lack of reforms coming from the Ramaphosa administration, business leaders say.
The mines and energy ministry has been slow to approve new power plants and little progress has been made improving the performance of indebted state companies overseen by the the public enterprises ministry.
Ramaphosa is being pushed to act decisively as the public standing of the ANC has taken a battering from revelations that party officials and their family members benefited from contracts to supply the government with medical equipment needed to fight the virus.
Last weekend, Ramaphosa wrote to party members saying they needed to root out corruption as the ANC has become “accused No. 1.” On Friday, former President Jacob Zuma, who is facing corruption charges, wrote to Ramaphosa saying that his actions could “destroy the ANC.”
In a series of Twitter posts last night that were later deleted, Finance Minister and Ramaphosa ally Tito Mboweni decried the corruption in the party.
“This corruption THING must end now!” he said in one of the posts. “We cannot have thieves in our organization.”
Mboweni has repeatedly expressed his frustration in government and has been said by analysts to be at risk of quitting. If he did resign, his potential replacement could be Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, one of the people said.
Latest Stories
-
Walter Mosley visits W.E.B. Du Bois Centre in Accra: A New York Secretary’s homecoming story on where Du Bois spent his final years.
11 minutes -
MTN set to deploy 5G services after winning spectrum licenses worth US$202m
3 hours -
NPP national elections: 3,000–4,000 police to handle security, traffic in Kumasi – Karbo
5 hours -
Atta Akyea fumes as Manhyia MP is to spend another night in EOCO custody
5 hours -
SSNIT says La Beach clearance was to protect hotel investments, beaches to remain public
6 hours -
APSU congratulates St Augustine’s College after back-to-back National Investment Quiz wins
6 hours -
Renewed flood intervention at Mallam Junction raises hopes among residents, businesses
7 hours -
St Augustine’s College retain National Investment Quiz title after nail-biting grand finale
7 hours -
Education infrastructure investment will drive Banda’s development – Ahmed Ibrahim
7 hours -
Teacher unions strike: Gov’t presents fresh proposals as talks end inconclusively
8 hours -
51,000 teachers’ promotion arrears to be validated for October payment – Education Minister
8 hours -
Kwabena Boamah appointed Board Chair for Impact Investing Ghana
8 hours -
Striking teacher unions to meet Fair Wages and Salaries Commission on October 6
8 hours -
EOCO working with AG to arraign Nana Baffour Awuah before weekend court
9 hours -
Duraplast reassures customers after fire, announces October 5 reopening
9 hours