President Cyril Ramaphosa has informed the ANC and his closest aides that unless forced to he will not undertake a major cabinet reshuffle until after the governing party’s national conference in December, according to four people familiar with his thinking.
However, the sources, two of whom are in Ramaphosa’s office and the others are ANC national executive committee members, also said if finance minister Enoch Godongwana is to be charged with sexual assault following a complaint by a masseuse at Kruger National Park, he would be immediately replaced as it is a “strategic position”.
Godongwana’s appointment in 2021 was largely welcomed by markets, lenders and ratings agencies as he reaffirmed the fiscal consolidation path of his predecessors, vowing to curb spending and decrease public debt.
At the time of publication, the matter had not been raised at the ANC’s special national executive committee meeting on Tuesday evening, two people attended the closed meeting said.
Business Day reported in June that Ramaphosa had planned to reshuffle his cabinet in October, the timing of which would have coincided with the deadline for the president to present the government’s plan to implement recommendations from the state capture report.
“It is not going to happen, not a big reshuffle. It would be stupid of the president to grow the ranks of his opponents when he faces re-election and he knows that,” said one source, who is one of Ramaphosa’s advisers.
In July, Ramaphosa was advised against reshuffling by leaders of the ANC and SACP on the grounds that stability of the ANC and the country in the build-up to the party’s elective meet later this year.
“Ramaphosa read the mood of the meeting at the (ANC’s) policy conference. He is probably safe, why would he gives his opponents ammunition,” another ANC national exectuve committee member said.
There is also a vacancy left by former public administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo, who resigned to take up a position at the World Bank earlier this year.
Business Day reliably understands that there is a strong lobby from some in the newly elected ANC’s Gauteng leadership for Ramaphosa to replace Dlodlo with provincial premier David Makhura.
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