Johannesburg – The African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday reiterated its stance that the appointment of Cabinet Minsiters remains the prerogative of the President.
The statement comes amid growing concern over reports that the President Jacob Zuma’s friends, the Gupta family, had been accused of offering cabinet minister positions to ANC members in exchange for favours for their businesses.
The latest claim was made by former African National Congress (ANC) member of parliament Vytjie Mentor, who claimed on social media on Tuesday that the Gupta family had offered her a Cabinet Minister position in exchange for a flight route.
Mentor’s post on Facebook, which has since been deleted, said: “But they had previously asked me to become Minister of Public Enterprises when Barbara Hogan got the chop, provided that I would drop the SAA flight-route to India and give to them. I refused and so I was never made a Minister. The President was in another room when they offered me this in Saxonworld.”
Zuma and the Guptas have rejected Mentor’s claim as unfounded.
But the ANC on Wednesday said: “Over the last couple of days, a number of reports have surfaced in the media alleging inappropriate and undue influence by the Gupta family over the appointment of members of the Cabinet”.
In a statement the ANC said it “views these allegations in an extremely serious light as they have the potential to erode and undermine the authority of the ANC, as the governing party and the President over the State. Section 91 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa bestows upon the President the authority to appoint Ministers, to assign them responsibilities and to dismiss them.
“In line with the ANC’s unwavering commitment to collective leadership, this is a prerogative that the President exercises in consultation with the National Officials of the African National Congress and Alliance Partners. This has been and remains the practice in the appointment of the National Executive,” said Zizi Kodwa, the ANC national spokesperson.
Kodwa said any persons or bodies purported to be “offering” Cabinet positions to members of the ANC or any other individuals do so in their own personal capacity with absolutely no authority to effect such offers.
“They do not carry nor represent the mandate of the African National Congress, which has been duly elected by our people to a position of trust to deliver on their aspirations.
“The organisation does not and shall not outsource this function to any members of the public, regardless on whose authority they may claim to be acting”.
Kodwa said it was expected that the upcoming meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), as part of its overall political discussion “will consider this matter so as to reaffirm the authority of the organisation and restore the confidence of our people”.
African News Agency
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