President Thabo Mbeki is set to appoint African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to his Cabinet next month after being ordered to do so by his party, the Sunday Times reported.
Motlanthe is likely to be sworn in as a member of Parliament when it opens in the first week in May as a replacement for former Congress of South African Trade Unions president John Gomomo, who died in January.
The Sunday Times has established that, in their first private meeting since Polokwane on February 17, Mbeki was told by ANC president Jacob Zuma that Motlanthe must form part of his cabinet.
Meanwhile, the paper also reported that the ANC’s parliamentary caucus has publicly demanded the resignation of four South African Broadcasting Corporation board members.
The four were appointed by supporters of Mbeki shortly before he was ousted by Zuma as head of the ANC.
Caucus spokesperson Khotso Khumalo told the Sunday Times that the ANC wanted Gloria Serobe, Christine Qunta, Andile Mbeki and Peter Vundla to step down.
”[If they do not] we will move for the dissolution of the whole board and start the process afresh. We want a credible board,” Khumalo said.
The Sunday Times has learned that the four have consulted Mbeki’s closest Cabinet adviser, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad, who urged them not to quit. — Sapa