Donwald Pressly
26 September 2008
W hile incoming South African president Kgalema Motlanthe was widely expected to reappoint finance minister Trevor Manuel to his cabinet yesterday, it is not clear who will replace Alec Erwin as the head of the public enterprises department, one of the government's key ministries.
Erwin has resigned from the cabinet and parliament.
The reappointment of Manuel would go a long way to calming jittery markets.
The rand fell 19,37c to R8,15 against the US dollar on Tuesday and the JSE all share index dropped 3,75 per cent after Manuel and 10 of his cabinet colleagues resigned.
Manuel said in a Washington briefing that he was surprised the news was received the way it was.
He said his resignation was to allow the incoming president to appoint his own cabinet.
However, he said, he had assured ANC president Jacob Zuma and Motlanthe that he was prepared to serve in the new administration.
Erwin's resignation, however, did not receive much attention, largely because he had announced that he would retire after next year's election.
The other economic cluster ministers - transport minister Jeff Radebe, trade and industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica and communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri - are likely to remain in place.
Zuma, speaking on Wednesday at the annual King Shaka Day celebrations in Kwa-Dukuza, declined to be drawn on who would be part of the new cabinet.
The country would have to wait until "parliamentary and ANC processes" had taken their course, he said.
"After necessary processes, the president will announce who will be the deputy president and also replacements of the ministers who resigned," Zuma said.
Radebe, once a rival to Zuma for leadership posts in KwaZulu-Natal, emerged as the new ruling elite's ally at the ANC national conference in December.
He was at a press conference on Tuesday in Johannesburg when ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe reassured the nation that there was "no crisis".
Radebe, who held second spot on the national executive committee list at Polokwane after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, could be appointed to his former post as minister of public enterprises.
Meanwhile, Public Investment Corporation chief executive Brian Molefe said he was not shocked by the resignations, as the debate about the political changes had been going on for some time.
Some of the ministers would be reappointed, said Molefe.
The ANC has said six of the 14 ministers and deputy ministers who resigned on Tuesday indicated they were not available for reappointment.
Apart from Erwin, these were defence minister Mosioua Lekota, minister in the presidency Essop Pahad, intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, provincial and local government minister Sydney Mufamadi and deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Business Report
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
