During President Jacob Zuma's successful electioneering campaign in Mpumalanga
In the dead of night, South Africans have looked at their cellphone screens awaiting the inevitable: an announcement that President Jacob Zuma has once again reshuffled his Cabinet.
There was the infamous shock of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene’s abrupt dismissal in December 2015 , and then Des van Rooyen, the “weekend special” minister, who would replace him for three days until Pravin Gordhan’s return to lead the finance ministry.
It was then that South Africans began to suspect that Zuma was gambling with the country’s leadership to shuffle his deck of ministers in a pursual of state capture.
The presidency announced on Tuesday that it had reshuffled the Cabinet for the second time in seven months. Speculation has spread that Zuma is making his final power play in a bid to secure his exit strategy after the ANC’s elective conference in December.
In his 8 years in office, this is how Msholozi has played his hand so far.