BuaNews (Tshwane)
29 September 2008
Pretoria — After serving nearly 15 years as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad has resigned from Cabinet.
According to a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday, Mr Pahad said due to unfortunate communication problems, President Kgalema Motlanthe announced on Thursday that he had been re-appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"While I am delighted and honoured that the President has once again showed confidence in my ability to be an active and useful member of the cabinet collective, I have written to the President to inform him that I am unable to accept his decision to re-appoint me as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs," Mr Pahad said.
He said he reached his decision after Judge Nicholson's judicial activism led him to conclude that the former President Thabo Mbeki and his entire Cabinet interfered politically in the work of the National Prosecuting Authority.
Mr Pahad expressed sadness about leaving Cabinet, adding that it was a difficult decision to make.
"After nearly 52 years in the struggle, 15 of which was in government, this is a very difficult and emotional decision but one that I had to take."
However, he was confident that the new President would continue to implement the previous policies and successfully deal with the challenges facing South Africa.
"I am absolutely confident that President Motlanthe will consistently implement policies adopted by the ANC conference to consolidate the very impressive gains our government has made in the last 15 years and that he will also ensure that we successfully deal with the many challenges our country and people continue to face.
"As a loyal member of the ANC, I will continue to give the President and the government all support in their endeavours to achieve a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world," Mr Pahad said.
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