According to a report in The Sowetan today, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene approached President Cyril Ramaphosa over the weekend to ask him to relieve him of his duties.
According to News24 , the interaction was said to have taken place by telephone.
Ramaphosa was never told about the seven meetings Nene had with the Guptas at their home and offices when he was previously finance minister and deputy finance minister under then president Jacob Zuma, the Sunday Times revealed yesterday.
Business Day has further added that Nene’s request will be decided by the ANC today. They said that, Ramaphosa was shocked by revelations of both the meetings and possibly also the fact that Nene is being investigated for allegedly untoward benefits that accrued to Nene’s son through the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) from when Nene was the chairperson of the PIC.
Nene’s future was reportedly the topic of discussion among top ANC officials at a retreat this weekend, with the president struggling with balancing the need to turn around the economy with needing to retain perceptions that he is dedicated to running a cleaner government.The fate of the finance minister is currently the topic of intense discussions among top ANC leaders.
Ramaphosa was reportedly surprised by Nene’s apology to the nation on Friday for his meetings with the Guptas.
EFF leader Julius Malema, via a tweet on Sunday morning threatened to use protests to forcefully Nene from office.
He said: “It looks like going to the streets to have this guy removed is unavoidable.”
The party has made no compromise by calling for the finance minister to quit or be fired after his apology on Friday.
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela told broadcaster eNCA that even though Nene may have lied about the Guptas, it was commendable that he had now come clean and it would be more important to find out what the reasons may have been for his keeping his Gupta meetings to himself.
-The Citizen