Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma held crisis talks with his tripartite counterparts late into the night on Friday in a bid to avert further upheaval and anger over his sudden sacking of the finance minister.
The meeting, described by insiders as tense and frank, was also meant to dissuade Zuma from any more cabinet bloodletting, as expectations of a general reshuffle grew following Nhlanhla Nene’s sacking.
Sources confirmed to Independent Media that Zuma held talks with SA Communist Party (SACP) boss Blade Nzimande and Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini into the early hours of Saturday morning.
For Nzimande and Dlamini, it was the first opportunity to register their organisations’ unhappiness directly to him. For the president, the meeting appears to be part of belated attempts by the state to stem the political and economic crisis that has engulfed his government as a result of the Nene sacking.
Asked for comment on Saturday, Dlamini said: “I cannot have such a conversation with any journalist. I am sorry”.
SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo confirmed the meeting took place but insisted it was a routine gathering of alliance leaders to prepare for the alliance political council.
He said the council would deal with preparations for local government elections next year.
One consequence of the meeting is that Zuma has put on hold for now any plans of a reshuffle, which some insiders had said would be announced today. Besides the unhappiness of Cosatu and the SACP, Zuma also appears to have been spooked by the unprecedented negative reaction to Nene’s removal.
Billions of rand were wiped off government bonds and the local currency touched R16 to the dollar as markets punished South Africa for the perceived instability that Nene’s firing signalled.
Zuma also faces a backlash from within the ANC, with factions opposed to his leadership seeing an opportunity to challenge him ahead of the 2017 electoral conference.
Zuma’s efforts to calm the situation might well be short-lived, given the determination of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) to engineer an overhaul of the executive in line with the power play and succession battle for 2017. Even as the president chastised the media for reporting the reshuffle talk on Friday evening, ANCYL president Collen Maile was stoking the fires, calling on Zuma to “overhaul” the cabinet and remove supposedly underperforming ministers. Among the league’s main targets is Nzimande, besides other SACP members in the executive.
Sources close to the process claim a cabinet reshuffle is now likely only after the ruling party’s annual celebrations, to be held in Rustenburg on January 8. But while the timing is now different, the names of ministers on the chopping block have not changed.
Besides Nzimande, SACP central committee member Rob Davies is tipped to go, and even Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe is not safe. Local Government Minister Pravin Gordhan, Nene’s immediate past predecessor at the Treasury, is also likely to go after he fell out with Zuma following claims that a “rogue spying unit” at the SA Revenue Service targeted Zuma when Gordhan was the minister at the helm.
Most significantly, Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson is likely to be dumped and replaced by current Communications Minister Faith Muthambi. This move is the second act – after Nene’s ouster – in a much wider geopolitical and patronage power play. Joemat-Pettersson, like Nene, will pay the price for her inability or reluctance to deliver on the proposed R1 trillion nuclear power project. Sources said it was this mega-project, the largest state procurement in South Africa’s history, that was the root cause of Nene’s exit, rather than his run-ins with SAA board chairwoman Dudu Myeni, who is close to Zuma.
“In fact Nene’s recommendations around SAA have been accepted and will be implemented,” said one source privy to cabinet discussions around SOEs.
The source said Zuma was determined to deliver on the nuclear deal after he gave a “personal undertaking” to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would get the contracts to build the eight nuclear power stations. The source said this was because Zuma was grateful to Putin for “saving his life” after he fell desperately ill and was treated in Moscow earlier this year.
What further dogged the nuclear power imbroglio and all but sealed Nene’s fate is the financial interest of the powerful Gupta family. The family is reported to have invested in uranium mining, through its Oakbay Investments company, in anticipation of a windfall when the nuclear power stations come.
Nene’s deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, was not selected to succeed him as he was perceived to be too close to the Treasury “establishment”.
The Young Communist League on Saturday described Maine’s comments as “extremely reckless and reflect a display of young people who are being used by factions in pursuit of the narrow interests…”
“The ANC is called upon to step in and rein in the divisive and childish manner in which this new section of the Youth League leadership is conducting itself, else the ANC will become divided as well as the alliance,” said spokesman Khaya Xaba.
Sunday Independent
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