South Africa’s President has reshuffled his Cabinet and dropped most of the predecessor’s ineffectual ministers.
On Monday, Ramaphosa’s controversial pick for deputy president David Mabuza, the current premier of Mpumalanga province who has faced allegations of ties to political violence but has never been convicted, caused concerns among some observers. After coming to power two weeks ago when Jacob Zuma resigned under pressure from his party, Cyril Ramaphosa started to form his own Cabinet.
“This cabinet is a very carefully organized balancing act by Ramaphosa,”
said Prince Mashele, executive director at the Center for Politics and Research in Pretoria and added that it won’t make the ground shake in terms of getting the government going and doing the right thing country needs at a time.
One of the most important persons in the new Cabinet is David Mabuza, an ANC deputy president and the new Deputy President of South Africa. He has not served as a Cabinet minister before. Mr Mabuza was an ally of Zuma and was accused of involvement in corruption in awarding tenders. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The experts remind that Mabuza’s influence in his Mpumalanga province will be significant for Ramaphosa and the ANC in next year’s parliamentary election. For the financial market, new Cabinet is also a very important aspect.
“This is a long-awaited and crucial step towards addressing the legitimate misgivings regarding the previous administration,”
confirmed Cas Coovadia, the managing director of the Banking Association of South Africa.
Following the reshuffle, new South Africa’s President vowed to begin talks on a new mining charter to replace the document that was largely seen as having been forced through by Mantashe’s predecessor, Mosebenzi Zwane.
