Africa-Press – South-Africa. Hours after ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula warned of removing Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan if he does not perform, the ANC made a U-turn saying the minister was safe in his job.
Mbalula, in a speech at the ANC Women’s League conference in Johannesburg on Saturday, told delegates that the party expected performance from its deployees to the government.
He singled out Gordhan and said he had to work quickly in fixing the problems faced by the country’s rail system – saying if he did not do so, he would be removed.
Former transport minister Mbalula blamed the high number of road deaths on the increased presence of trucks carrying goods that could otherwise be transported by rail.
“Now I will say to Pravin Gordhan; I was with him there. I was also a minister of transport: ‘Comrade Pravin, move faster, or otherwise, we will move you.’
“We need all the trucks off the road because people are dying because of these trucks. Trucks must get off the road, and goods be transported by rail. Let’s not act like we are not in government. We are in charge,” he said.
But on Saturday night, the ANC issued a statement qualifying Mbalula’s comments and saying Gordhan was safe in his job.
“The minister of public enterprises will undoubtedly not provide answers [alone] facing our rail transport system. The fact that a clarion call is sounded on the minister to fast-track policy interventions to address our rail and freight logistics does not amount to a call for his removal,” the ANC said in a statement issued by spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.
“We have an obligation to provide adequate responses to all of these challenges. Government, working together with all South Africans, must find amicable programmes to extend our people’s frontiers of a better life,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
Gordhan recently announced a new board at Transnet had been appointed to turn around the struggling state-owned enterprise.
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