Transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s election to the ANC top brass will result in yet another vacancy in his cabinet, and a reshuffle could be expected within the next few weeks.
Mbalula was elected to the full-time position of the ANC’s secretary-general on Monday at the party’s national conference at Nasrec.
“We will discuss as officials and with the president when we will resign as minister of transport so the work isn’t disrupted,” he told a media briefing hours after his election.
Mbalula suggested there could be a handover period before he resigns but added it was President Cyril Ramaphosa’s prerogative. “If it was my call alone I will resign tonight, so we will have to discuss. I might go after the state of the nation [address] ... we will have a meeting with the president as the CEO of government.” Mbalula also suggested that he might have to go now, if Ramaphosa was ready to replace him immediately.
“My job now is ANC,” Mbalula said. “Honestly my time is up in government.”
He said he was saying of a number of ideas of things that should happen at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters, such as working on the party’s money problems and paying staff, winning the 2024 elections and restoring the party’s battered image. “We have to be dynamic as a party,” he said. “I enjoy working for the ANC. I have done it before. I came to the right place where I belong.”
It is widely expected that Ramaphosa will reshuffle his cabinet to reflect the election of the new ANC leadership and also to appoint a minister in the portfolio of public service & administration, which has been vacant since Ayanda Dlodlo was appointed to a World Bank position in Washington DC.
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