Cabinet ministers – especially those linked to the Gupta family – are feeling anxious, as president Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to soon reshuffle his cabinet, according to a report by the City Press.<\/p>\n
The new president delivered his first State of the Nation Address on Friday, where he made it clear that he would be looking to restructure government.<\/p>\n
He said that a growing and prosperous country was dependent on a strong and functioning state – and even alluded to resizing government departments, and scaling down the bloated cabinet, which grew to 76 ministers and deputy ministers under Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the first ministers being targeted to get the boot are those linked to the Guptas, or who have underperformed. These include:<\/p>\n
These names cropped up in deliberations with alliance partners, the paper reported, indicating that Ramaphosa was already doing what Zuma never did, in terms of consultation.<\/p>\n
According to the City Press, insiders have said there is a push for president Ramaphosa to shuffle his cabinet as soon as possible to clean house – however, with the budget speech coming this week, things may have to wait.<\/p>\n
Regarding the finance ministry, if Gigaba gets the boot, officials have argued that the minister who will be implementing the budget should deliver it. That has been countered by arguments saying that the budget isn’t drafted by the minister, so it does not belong to him specifically.<\/p>\n
Many of the Zuma and Gupta-linked ministers have expressed publicly indifference at getting the chop, saying they did not join the ANC movement for a job in government.<\/p>\n