THE Congress of the People (Cope) has indicated its disappointment at various appointments in the cabinet announced by President Cyril Rampahosa last night.
Full statement below:
Once the President has been elected and sworn into office he becomes, as the Constitutional Court has described, a constitutional being by design … the personification of our nation’s constitutional project .… Only upon him has the constitutional obligation to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic been expressly imposed’ ….and he is required to ‘endure graciously and admirably and fulfil all obligations however unpleasant’.
As such, the President is expected to act ethically and presidentially and to place the express interests of the Country before those of his own and of his party.
COPE is not convinced that the President has been guided solely by the interests of the Country.
It is evident that the President has been swayed in part to balance the factional interests of the ANC. Its points to the balance of forces within the ANC not being entirely in favour of the President and a President not entirely in control of the destiny of his cabinet and of government.
In this regard COPE expresses its dismay at the appointment of the controversial and infamous and now former Premier of Mpumulanga and more lately ‘kingmaker’ DD Mabuza as Deputy State President.
Some ministers who should have been expelled right out of the executive have merely been reshuffled. This includes the likes of Bathabile Dlamini, who almost collapsed our grants payment system, Nomvula Mokonyane, and Malusi Gigaba, a key figure in the state capture project who was just recently found to have perjured himself in the Fireblade/Gupta/Home Affairs High Court matter.
COPE notes with dismay that former Police Commissioner Bheki Cele who was dismissed under a cloud of corruption from the post has now been returned as the Minister of Police
Tonight’s Cabinet reshuffle points to limited success by Ramaphosa to dismantle the network of state capture, looting and corruption and in putting the country on a path to socio-economic and political revival.
It seems that the new dawn turned out to be a false dawn and that South Africans will have to wait to see and feel the sunshine.
