Did Ramaphosa sack Nkabane to save the budget?
President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed Nobuhle Nkabane as Minister of Higher Education, a move seen as a win for the DA, which accused her of lying to Parliament.
Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane. Picture: @GovernmentZA/X
CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Tara Roos, a researcher and political analyst, about the sacking of Nobuhle Nkabane as Minister of Higher Education.
Listen below:
President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired Nobuhle Nkabane as Minister of Higher Education and Training.
The move is seen as a victory for the Democratic Alliance (DA), which threatened not to vote for the Higher Education budget if Ramaphosa did not fire her.
The DA says she lied to Parliament to cover up ANC cadre deployment.
Had the DA failed to vote for the Higher Education budget, it could have scuppered the entire budget process, explains Kiewit.
So did Ramaphosa fire Nkabane to save the budget process, he wonders.
Unlikely, says Roos, given that on Monday all GNU partners confirmed they would lend their votes to allow the budget to pass.
That then begs the question, says Roos, of why Ramaphosa sacked Nkabane.
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"What a lot of people are leaning to is that today (Tuesday), the Minister was supposed to appear in front of the Portfolio Committee of Higher Education and she was supposed to recall about these board appointments."
- Tara Roos, political commentator
On Friday, Nkabane missed an important meeting in parliament, where she was supposed to give a briefing on the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) board selection process.
"Three out of the five appointees had sat in front of the Portfolio Committee on Friday... she [Nkabane] will now not be able to do that because she is no longer the minister."
- Tara Roos, political commentator
On Monday, the Presidency announced Buti Manamela as the new Minister of Higher Education and Training.
"We do not know if the new appointed minister of higher education will be filling in for her."
- Tara Roos, political commentator
Roos says the key question now is whether the DA will still not vote on Human Settlements.
"Does it come as a package deal? They said they would not lend their votes to both Human Settlements and Higher Education."
- Tara Roos, political commentator
Roos explains that the budget will still pass due to votes from other GNU partners.
Scroll up to listen to the full conversation from Good Morning Cape Town.
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