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Cape Town – Only the president will be able to say if Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will keep his job, said Deputy Finance Minister Sfiso Buthelezi.
He was responding to questions from journalists about whether Gigaba will deliver the Budget Speech on Wednesday February 21.
Gigaba had handed over the microphone to Buthelezi to answer questions following a briefing for the launch of the portal Vulekamali, which aims to make the budget more accessible to South Africans.
“That is why we are here. There is a budget that is going to be presented tomorrow and it is going to be presented by nobody else but Malusi Gigaba,” said Buthelezi.
“That is the information we all have. That is what we have been preparing for,” he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will have to hold his own media briefing about the future of ministers, Buthelezi explained. “We all know that is the prerogative of the president. On a serious note, it’s definitely an unfair question to ask a deployee ‘are you going to be here tomorrow, are you going to be here next week?’.”
Ahead of the State of the Nation Address on Friday, Gigaba told journalists that he serves at the pleasure of the president.
"The president can appoint ministers, he can remove others. It is not the end of the world, we remain Members of Parliament.
“Nobody joined the struggle in order to become a minister and so we will continue to serve the ANC and the people of South Africa in whatever capacity assigned to us,” Gigaba said.
Business as usual for Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and his deputy Sfiso Buthelezi @Fin24 @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/Er9oAWWj9y
— lameez omarjee (@LameezOmarjee) February 20, 2018
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