President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as deputy president to replace Jacob Zuma, who was sacked last week.
Mbeki made the announcement during a press conference following the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys in Cape Town on Wednesday.
He also used the opportunity to announce a minor reshuffle of the Cabinet.
Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks will succeed Mlambo-Ngcuka as Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mbeki said.
Two new deputy ministers will be appointed in the trade and industry portfolio — Rob Davies and Elizabeth Thabethe. Davies is currently chairperson of the National Assembly’s finance committee, while Thabethe chairs the environment committee.
The incoming members of the executive will take the oath of office on Thursday, Mbeki said.
‘Serious questions’
The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Wednesday it was encouraged by Mbeki’s choice of deputy president.
”She is very strong,” said Sacob president Deirdre Penfold.
”She will complement the president. We can see a way forward.”
In principle the appointment is a bold and gender-friendly move, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said after the announcment.
He said that on a personal level the new deputy president was a woman of ability and charm.
However, from a political and moral perception, her appointment undermined the good work Mbeki did last week when he took the very difficult decision to dismiss Zuma, he said.
He said there are a number of questions — some of them serious and all of them unanswered — which hung over the head of the new Deputy President.
”First, the unfolding Oilgate scandal involves one of South Africa’s largest parastatals, PetroSA, which falls directly under the department for which she was responsible in her capacity as Minister of Minerals and Energy.
”Second, according to available information, it appears that Mrs Mlambo-Ngcuka’s brother, Bonga Mlambo, benefited to the tune of R50 000 from PetroSA’s relationship with Imvume.
”This allegation and any knowledge the new deputy president may have had of the transaction have yet to be acknowledged or even investigated. She is both the state and the SA taxpayers’ representative on PetroSA, and her lack of action and candour are deeply troubling.
”Third, and of deep significance, is the fact that Mrs Mlambo-Ngcuka is married to former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, the man who found that there was a prima facie case of corruption against Jacob Zuma in 2003.
”The fact that Zuma has now been replaced by Mlambo-Ngcuka because of this same corruption case could cause the impression that Ngcuka and the president might well have had an agenda outside of strictly legal concerns,” Leon said.
He said that at a ministerial level, she has worked hard to introduce some positive steps towards the liberalisation of the petroleum industry, but the implementation of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act exposed the government to billions of rands in possible international lawsuits.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) said Mlambo-Ngcuka should be given a chance to perform before any comments are made.
The institute wished Mlambo-Ngcuka well and said she had an important and challenging job ahead.
”The president has an agenda to empower women,” said Idasa executive director Paul Graham.
”And he has demonstrated this every chance he gets.”
Graham said the Mbeki’s choice was a show of commitment to constitutionalism.
”We want to give her a chance to perform and take on her new role rather than second guessing how she’s going to do,” he said.
While welcoming the appointment, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa hoped her alleged implication in the Oilgate scandal will not prove to be her undoing.
He predicted that she would face ”some short and bouncing yorkers”.
”We hope that the president has satisfied himself that her involvement in the oil scandal is above board,” he said.
Holomisa said it is also alleged that Imvume was involved in a property development project in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park with Uluntu Investment, a company headed by Mlambo-Ngcuka’s brother, Bonga Molambo.
For their part, Business Unity SA (Busa) said Mbeki is ”rewarding competence and delivery” in the appointment.
”We welcome with excitement the appointment of Mrs Mlambo-Ngcuka,” said Busa chief executive Bheki Sibiya.
”We believe that the president is rewarding competence and delivery, but he is also rewarding inventiveness and innovation in that Mrs Mlambo-Ngcuka was the very first minister who chartered the way around broad-based Black Economic Empowerment.”
Sibiya said Mbeki is demonstrating that ”he takes gender very seriously, because she [Mlambo-Ngcuka] brings a gender woman diversity”.
”We are confident that her appointment to that position is not necessarily because she is a woman but because she is competent.”
Commenting on the appointment of Lindiwe Hendricks as Mlambo-Ngcuka’s successor, Sibiya said: ”The appointment of Mrs Hendricks as minister of minerals and energy is an excellent appointment.
”She is experienced in the Cabinet and government issues, and she is going to bring a lot of continuation to what Mlambo-Ngcuka was running with. Hendricks will also bring a new set of fresh ideas of her own into the ministry.”
Sibiya said the two new deputy ministers to be appointed in the trade and industry portfolio constituted a good choice as it would ”enable the department to better achieve its talent.
Mlambo-Ngcuka was born on November 3, 1955, and obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science and Education from the National University of Lesotho in 1980.
She then took up a teaching post in KwaZulu-Natal until 1983.
She was a founder member and director of the Young Women’s International Programme at the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) office in Geneva from 1984 to 1987.
In 1994, she became the chairperson of the Public Service Portfolio Committee and was appointed deputy minister in the Department of Trade and Industry in 1996.
Zuma in court next Wednesday
Zuma will appear in court on two corruption charges next Wednesday, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Tuesday.
”Deputy president Jacob Zuma will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court next Wednesday at 9am,” NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said.
The charges followed a finding by the Durban High Court of a ”generally corrupt” relationship between Zuma and his friend and financial adviser Schabir Shaik, during Shaik’s fraud and corruption trial.
Shaik was sentenced in effect to 15 years in prison.
Zuma was then relieved of his position as deputy president by Mbeki in a special sitting of Parliament. – Sapa