The ANC is “not happy” with the performance of its ministers in the security cluster as crime spirals under their watch.
This is according to the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who believes rising crime levels are eroding the authority of the state.
But Mbalula said the ANC did not believe President Cyril Ramaphosa should have made changes to his security cluster in his cabinet reshuffle this week.
Instead, the ANC has opted to give an audience to the security cluster ministers over the crime situation.
The cluster consists of ministers Bheki Cele (police), Thandi Modise (defence), Aaron Motsoaledi (home affairs), Ronald Lamola (justice and correctional services) and Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (state security in the presidency).
“Most of the people [ministers] are still there. Even those who are lacking, we’re going to meet with them and show them you are lacking in this and that,” said Mbalula.
“We are not happy about the security cluster; we will sit with those comrades and talk to them together with the president about what we need from them going forward.
“We are not happy about that, but we’ve got good comrades who are energised, we just need them to twist and turn and move faster.”
Mbalula maintained the ministers were “capable comrades” who needed to be strategic “because we can’t behave as if there is no rule of law in the country to the point where everybody can do as they wish”.
“We’re not calling for a state of emergency, we want visibility, but at the same time we want the authority of the state to be firmed.”
Mbalula maintained reshuffling the security cluster ministers would be disruptive.
“We are left with a couple of months, so the changes you make will not be effective in a sense because if you do an overhaul of cabinet, you are raising expectations that certain things will move in a [particular manner] because it takes time to acclimatise,” he said.
“If you look at the changes we’ve made, we have not been disruptive ... in terms of acceleration of work.”
The government would only consider those changes when it “reconfigured the cabinet after the 2024 national general elections”, Mbalula said.
“We know fundamental changes can only come after the elections. We can’t make changes at the top level; the most important thing is to accelerate the programmes that are already there.”
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ANC ‘not happy’ with security cluster ministers, says Mbalula
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The ANC is “not happy” with the performance of its ministers in the security cluster as crime spirals under their watch.
This is according to the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who believes rising crime levels are eroding the authority of the state.
But Mbalula said the ANC did not believe President Cyril Ramaphosa should have made changes to his security cluster in his cabinet reshuffle this week.
Instead, the ANC has opted to give an audience to the security cluster ministers over the crime situation.
The cluster consists of ministers Bheki Cele (police), Thandi Modise (defence), Aaron Motsoaledi (home affairs), Ronald Lamola (justice and correctional services) and Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (state security in the presidency).
“Most of the people [ministers] are still there. Even those who are lacking, we’re going to meet with them and show them you are lacking in this and that,” said Mbalula.
“We are not happy about the security cluster; we will sit with those comrades and talk to them together with the president about what we need from them going forward.
“We are not happy about that, but we’ve got good comrades who are energised, we just need them to twist and turn and move faster.”
Mbalula maintained the ministers were “capable comrades” who needed to be strategic “because we can’t behave as if there is no rule of law in the country to the point where everybody can do as they wish”.
“We’re not calling for a state of emergency, we want visibility, but at the same time we want the authority of the state to be firmed.”
Mbalula maintained reshuffling the security cluster ministers would be disruptive.
“We are left with a couple of months, so the changes you make will not be effective in a sense because if you do an overhaul of cabinet, you are raising expectations that certain things will move in a [particular manner] because it takes time to acclimatise,” he said.
“If you look at the changes we’ve made, we have not been disruptive ... in terms of acceleration of work.”
The government would only consider those changes when it “reconfigured the cabinet after the 2024 national general elections”, Mbalula said.
“We know fundamental changes can only come after the elections. We can’t make changes at the top level; the most important thing is to accelerate the programmes that are already there.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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