KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali on Monday scotched rumours that he would again reshuffle his Cabinet and dissolve his party’s co-operation pact with the African National Congress in the province.
In his state of the province address to the legislature, he said KwaZulu-Natal was constantly battling with a ”negative perception promoted by the media for political reasons”.
Mtshali, the Inkatha Freedom Party’s national chairman, singled out the Sunday Times newspaper for reporting ”as news what can not even be regarded as a rumour and which I have clearly styled as nothing short of rubbish”.
”Whenever we build stability in this province, someone feels compelled to seed dissent, discontent, instability and artificial tensions. There is no basis whatsoever for even beginning to speculate about another Cabinet reshuffle,” Mtshali said.
Weekend reports speculated that Mtshali was likely to sack the two remaining ANC MECs in his executive — Transport MEC S’bu Ndebele and Health MEC Zweli Mkhize. This would have resulted in the dissolution of the ANC-IFP coalition government in the province and held implications for national level.
Referring to his earlier sacking of two ANC MECs, Dumisane Makhaye and Mike Mabuyakhulu, and their replacement with two Democratic Alliance members, Mtshali said the previous reshuffle was ”motivated by many factors, including the lack of loyalty of some of the members of my Cabinet which was clearly displayed in
this House”.
”I expect that now that we have all begun a new chapter in the governance of this province that those who serve in my Cabinet are generally committed to its success rather than being deviously dedicated to its failure.” – Sapa