Pretoria - The appointment and removal of Ministers from office is the prerogative of the President, Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe said on Friday.
“The issue of appointments and removal of Cabinet Ministers is the prerogative of the President. This was not discussed at Cabinet,” said the Minister.
The Minister was responding to a question at a media briefing following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting.
On Wednesday night, President Jacob Zuma announced that he had removed Nhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance.
President Zuma said Nene, who has done well since his appointment, had been removed ahead of his deployment to another strategic position.
Minister Radebe said at the conclusion of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, there was no new Minister of Finance.
On Thursday, at a brief swearing-in ceremony at the Union Buildings, David van Rooyen was sworn in as South Africa’s new Finance Minister.
Minister Radebe said, however, Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting discussed the issue of the economy as well as the report of the country’s downgrade by rating agency Standard and Poor’s.
This as the agency last week revised the outlook on South Africa to negative from stable.
“Cabinet did discuss the issue of the economy, including the report of the downgrade by Standard and Poor’s. The former Minister of Finance [Nhlanhla Nene] gave an extensive presentation on these matters but it was not concluded because there is a special meeting that will be convened on Tuesday by all clusters to look at these matters,” said Minister Radebe.
The meeting will be a continuation of discussions in Cabinet.
“The meeting is being convened in order to deal with matters of the economy. It is a continuation of discussions in Cabinet, especially now with this very bad economic climate we are under. We are all concerned as Cabinet.
“The discussion on Tuesday will go a long way in refocusing us on what needs to be done in order to ensure that we put our shoulders to the wheel to ensure economic growth and job creation,” said the Minister. – SAnews.gov.za
