Opposition parties have rejected the reshuffling of the embattled Minister Thembi Simelane from the Justice and Constitutional Development portfolio to the Human Settlements portfolio by President Cyril Ramaphosa last night. Ramaphosa swapped Simelane with the current Minister of Human Settlements, Mamoloko Kubayi, who was appointed the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development effective immediately.
SHE DOES NOT BELONG IN THE CABINET
The reshuffling comes as Minister Simelane faces accusations of benefitting from the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank heist. In August, reports emerged that Simelane received a loan of R575 600 from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company directly linked to the unlawful investments of municipal funds into VBS. Simelane received the loan when she was still a mayor at Polokwane Municipality, which also unlawfully invested public funds with VBS. DA leader and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa's decision to remove Simelane as Minister of Justice and redeploy her to Minister of Human Settlements is short-sighted and disrespectful to South Africa. "While the President has finally addressed the untenable conflict of interest of having a Minister of Justice accused of corruption, his decision to simply move her somewhere else does not address the underlying issue, she stands accused of corruption and is subject to investigations. Human Settlements is a vital department for providing housing to South Africans. It must be led by a credible individual.' Steenhuisen said. He accused Ramaphosa of being indecisive. "This is shocking and quite blatantly insincere. Mister President, our country deserves better. Simelane does not belong in the Cabinet, end of the story,' he added.
A COWARDLY MOVE
ActionSA has also rejected the reshuffling, calling it Ramaphosa's last-ditch a cowardly reshuffle. The party's parliamentary leader and MP, Atholl Trollip, said appointing Simelane as Minister of Human Settlements amid increasing pressure over mounting allegations of corruption defeats the concept of accountability, which he said demands that no individual facing allegations as severe as those against Simelane be allowed to continue serving in Cabinet. "Simply put, if the minister was deemed no longer fit to serve as Minister of Justice due to allegations of potential corruption and questionable sources of wealth beyond her declared earnings, then surely the President cannot now expect us to believe that she is perfectly suited to lead a critically important portfolio like Human Settlements, overseeing billions of Rands,' Trollip said. He added: "Unsurprisingly, President Ramaphosa has once again shown South Africans that he lacks both the appetite and fortitude to break the entrenched culture of unaccountability that continues to plague our country. This cowardly move by the president also highlights the fact that his own Phala Phala demons continue to hamstring his actions when it comes to dealing with corruption in his cabinet.'
Ramaphosa also appointed Phumzile Mgcina as the deputy minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and Judith Nemadzinga-Tshabalala as the new deputy minister of Employment and Labour.
