Rehana Rossouw and Gustav Thiel
FEARS are growing within the African National Congress that the National Party is planning a reshuffle to wipe out the ANC’s only representation in the Western Cape provincial Cabinet.
Health and Welfare MEC Ebrahim Rasool and Economic Affairs MEC Chris Nissen’s positions have been tipped for change after the provincial Constitution has been ratified.
“Its gone beyond rumour now, names are being mooted by the National Party to fill Cabinet positions,” said a senior ANC official in the provincial Parliament. “The NP wants to split Rasool’s position into two portfolios – health and welfare – and strip Nissen of his post. Professor Adam Small is being mooted for Rasool’s post.”
The ANC’s fears follow the recent adoption of the Western Cape provincial Constitution. The party objected to a clause allowing the provincial Cabinet to be expanded from 10 members to 14. The clause also allows people who were not elected on the provincial ballot to serve as members of the provincial Cabinet.
“This allows them to bring in Small. He qualifies for the position of MEC for welfare as he has lectured in social work for decades. But Rasool has performed excellently and there is no reason to tamper with it,” said a senior source in the provincial Department of Health and Welfare.
“They want to get rid of him because he is too effective. The Lund Committee report on welfare showed how the NP used welfare as patronage to buy coloured votes. Rasool has changed that. He has also unearthed massive corruption in the Western Cape, leading to the police investigation into former NP Cabinet minister Abe Williams.”
Small was previously tipped as a moderate NP leader in the province. He was part of an attempt to launch a coloured party in 1991, which did not succeed, and is now aligned with an attempt to launch a movement for Afrikaans speakers.
ANC sources say the NP would want to axe Nissen as economic growth in the Western Cape is faster than the rest of the country, and the NP wants to claim responsibility for that.
They also believe Western Cape Democratic Party leader Hennie Bester could get a post in exchange for supporting the clause which allowed the extension of the size of the provincial Cabinet.
“Bester went against the DP’s national position. The DP has called for the reduction of the size of the national Cabinet in order to cut government spending,” the ANC official said. “We believe the reason they compromised is because he has been offered a provincial Cabinet seat.”
The Cabinet reshuffle is expected in July. The ANC has not yet formulated a response, but some party members have mooted the idea of pulling out of the executive council if the reshuffle goes ahead.
Western Cape NP leader Hernus Kriel was unavailable for comment. A representative for MEC for Local Government, Peter Marais, would only say the splitting of the health and welfare portfolios in July was a “real possibility”.