Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is among 11 Cabinet ministers and three deputy ministers who have resigned.
- Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka resigns
Their letters of resignation had been received by President Thabo Mbeki “which, regretfully, he has had to accept”, the presidency said in a statement on today.
They included Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who earlier in the day announced her resignation from the position, to which she was appointed after ANC president Jacob Zuma was released from his responsibilities as deputy president in 2005.
One of the reasons she gave was to allow a new president the opportunity to choose their own deputy.
The other resignations were of the Ministers of: Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota; Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad; Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils; Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour; Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin; Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena; Public Works, Thoko Didiza; Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi; and Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.
The deputy ministers who resigned are: Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad; Finance, Jabu Moleketi and Correctional Services, Loretta Jacobus.
“The resignations will be effective from the day that the president’s resignation takes effect [Thursday],” the presidency said.
“All the ministers have expressed their availability to assist the incoming administration in the hand-over process and any other assistance that might be sought from them.
“President Mbeki thanked the deputy president, the ministers and the deputy ministers for their dedicated service to the nation and wished them well in their future endeavours,” it said.
News servers around the country are being bombered by hits, including 24.com, which has apparently just gone offline!
this is madness, so now what? the only one im worried about is trevor manuel.
Losing Trevor is a huge loss, in my opinion, he was one of the only members who was doing a really great job, seeing that our economy is the only thing surviving.
I’m not sure that this is the end of everything though, this might work out positively..