He is unknown in the mining industry. His performance as an MEC in the Free State “has‚ at best‚ been mediocre”. That’s how the Democratic Alliance on Wednesday summed up Mosebenzi Zwane‚ President Jacob Zuma’s new appointee as minister of mineral resources.Zuma stunned with a late-night cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday‚ which saw the relatively unknown Zwane take over from Ngoako Ramatlhodi who moves to public service and administration.Ramathlodi has presided over a sharp decline in South African mining as commodity prices have been hammered by slowing down of the Chinese economy.The appointment‚ the DA’s James Lorimer said‚ “is unlikely to solve the mining industry’s problems”.He suggested that the current second-in-command in the ministry would have been a better choice.“The question then becomes: What can Zwane deliver that could not be delivered by other ANC (African National Congress) heavyweights who know something about mining?” asked Lorimer.“Deputy minister Godfrey Oliphant comes to mind.”The DA’s mineral resources spokesperson said “Zwane does not appear to have any track record of involvement in the mining industry”.“What he does have is a record of following the orders of Free State premier Ace Magashule‚ himself a key political ally of President Jacob Zuma.”Lorimer brought up Zwane’s “involvement in the financially disastrous Vrede dairy project” which media reported involved a company said to be close to the Zuma-connected Gupta family.“That project continues to run at a loss and has cost the Free State some R190-million‚” he said.The Mail & Guardian reported last year that the “dairy project appears to have been conceived during a visit to India by senior department officials and the then agriculture MEC‚ Mosebenzi Zwane‚ whose home town is Vrede”.The scandal around the project concerned the apparent flouting of public-private partnership rules by the provincial government. The newspaper‚ however‚ conceded that there was no direct evidence of the Guptas being linked to the family.“The appointment of lacklustre public officials in key economic sectors of government bears profound ramifications on employment and sector performance within the economy‚” Lorimer said.“The already depressed mining sector needs a mining minister with more experience than Zwane is offering and fewer ties to the controversial Guptas.”Ramatlhodi moves to public service and administration to fill the position left vacant by the “tragic and untimely demise of…Collins Chabane”‚ who died in the early hours of March 15 this year when the car he was travelling in collided with a truck made on the N1 near Polokwane.Arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa has been the acting head of the public service and administration ministry since March then...