Why Manyi is not about to go

13 March 2011 - 02:10 By S'thembiso Msomi
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S'thembiso Msomi: It is said that when the cabinet announced the surprise appointment of Jimmy Mzwanele Manyi as its spokesman, the prediction among senior government communicators was that he would not last long in the job.

But not even those sceptics could have imagined that Manyi would be on the back foot almost immediately - with a cabinet minister publicly lambasting him, and an ANC-aligned trade union joining opposition parties in calling for his head.

In his short stint as a state employee - having joined the government in August 2009 as the Department of Labour's director-general - Manyi, who is now 47, has gained a reputation among cabinet ministers and senior civil servants as a cocky and abrasive individual.

Barely a year into that job, he was put on "precautionary suspension" by the then minister of labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, amid allegations that he used his position to solicit private business from the Norwegian embassy.

But it was another accusation Mdladlana levelled at Manyi that would become legendary in government circles.

In a charge sheet drawn up by the minister for an internal probe into Manyi's conduct, Mdladlana accused his DG of displaying "disrespectful conduct" and "insolent behaviour", and embarrassing him in front of staff members.

According to Mdladlana, Manyi had "jumped up" during a December 2009 department meeting and shouted to his boss, "Minister, you have been talking for two hours and you must now allow the staff members to ask you questions."

At another meeting, convened by Mdladlana in Cape Town three months later, Manyi was at it again: "Minister, when are you going to stop talking, as people are anxious to catch their planes, as I have been receiving notes from people wanting to leave the meeting."

Manyi was not found guilty of any of the charges. Mdladlana abandoned the disciplinary process and opted to get rid of his DG by not extending his contract beyond the probation period.

Manyi this week declined to be interviewed for this profile, saying: "Rather profile the work of government, not me."

An associate did not deny Manyi had said those things to the minister - but Manyi, he said, was "simply stating the facts" to a minister notorious for his rambling speeches.

When President Jacob Zuma sacked Mdladlana during the cabinet reshuffle in October last year, Manyi saw it as an opportunity to return to his post.

But the new Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant - probably aware that Manyi's prickly character had led to a showdown with her predecessor - refused to take him back.

According to officials at the Union Buildings, Zuma - fearful that Manyi would follow in the footsteps of former Department of Communications DG Mamodupi Mohlala and drag the government through an embarrassing court case for unfair dismissal - had to find him a job.

None of the ministers whose departments had vacant DG posts were brave enough to take him. So, when Zuma and the Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane - under whose authority Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS) falls - axed Themba Maseko as its CEO, Manyi got the job.

Government communicators privately complain that Manyi's appointment - along with that of GCIS deputy CEO Vusi Mona - sends a message that Zuma does not see the institution as having "strategic value", but as a "dumping ground" for unwanted civil servants. Manyi's supporters disagree.

"Zuma would not have given him the job if he didn't trust him or believe in him. To be CEO of GCIS is to be probably the second most senior director-general in government. You get to sit in on cabinet meetings. A president appoints a person he really trusts for that post," said a Manyi sympathiser, who asked not to be named.

It is not clear when Manyi, who was born in Meadowlands, Soweto, became close to Zuma.

Through the Black Management Forum, of which he is president, Manyi was one of the prominent pro-Zuma middle-class voices in the run-up to the 2009 elections.

The BMF, which worked closely with ANC head of organising Fikile Mbalula and the ANC Youth League, played no small part in ensuring that black professionals did not abandon the party for the Congress of the People.

Manyi, who is an ordained preacher in the Port Elizabeth-based Bantu Church of Christ, took Zuma to campaign at the influential independent church just before he became president.

But this does not adequately explain why the father of three - who has been married to his wife, Stella, for 26 years - is still standing despite having had a much-publicised falling out with two cabinet ministers.

Mdladlana took him on last year and lost.

And the Minister of National Planning, Trevor Manuel - who has publicly castigated Manyi for his controversial comments about the "over-supply" of coloureds in the Western Cape - is now the one on the ropes.

Earlier this week, the ANC's national working committee castigated Manuel for behaving as if he were a "free agent" by expressing views "that are not informed by policy".

Later that day, Manuel's colleague, Chabane, issued a statement declaring the government's unwavering support for Manyi. Manuel must have felt like he had been stabbed in the back twice on the day by his own comrades.

He had spoken out partly to minimise the damage that Manyi's comments - made last year in an interview on kykNET - would have inflicted on the party's troubled campaign to win back coloured voters in the Western Cape.

So why did Luthuli House and the Union Buildings - where Manuel and Chabane are based - turn on Manuel?

It must be because Manyi, an outspoken advocate of economic transformation, is seen by senior ANC leaders as a victim of a campaign by the DA, Solidarity and other groups that oppose affirmative action and the government's empowerment policies.

As BMF president, Manyi often rubbed white business, the opposition and right-wing trade unions up the wrong way. Some ANC leaders believe he is now being "punished" for being a "cheeky native".

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said this week that those calling for Manyi's resignation over his controversial utterances had "a hatred for change".

"People who are strong and raise issues of transformation will not be liked by everybody, because those are painful issues. They deal with the raw nerve of the racial prejudices that are historic in our country," he said.

And when ANC leaders believe one of their own to be under siege from the opposition and the media, they stand by him.

Predictions of Manyi's imminent departure are, therefore, premature.

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