By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired his first cabinet member since he made his appointments last year, as he has sacked the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Andrew Whitfield who is also the Eastern Cape DA leader, reasons for Whitfield’s termination have not been explicitly expressed by the President.
Whitfield served as one of two deputy ministers who served under Parks Tau as his office gave a brief statement thanking Whitfield for his service in his role as Deputy Minister but no conclusive reason was given for why he was terminated after a year of serving in office. There has been speculation that President Ramaphosa would be announcing a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday 3 July 2025.
The spokesperson to the President Vincent Magwenya has said that Ramaphosa in not intending on doing a full reshuffle. “The Presidency can confirm that in terms of Section 93(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, President Cyril Ramaphosa has removed the Hon. Andrew Whitfield, MP from the position of Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition. The President has thanked the former deputy minister for the time he served in the role. However, the President has not indicated any intention to conduct a wholesale cabinet reshuffle.” Said the Spokesperson as per EWN.
This termination has frustrated the coalition government especially coming off the back of disagreements that the two opposition parties had over the budget which was revised three times this year. John Steenhuisen has insinuated that Whitfield’s termination was due to an unapproved trip abroad.
This is due to Whitfield not receiving a response from the President despite having written to seek approval from Ramaphosa over his travel request. Steenhuisen had also made remarks that the Whitfield’s removal is “a calculated political assault on the second largest party in the governing coalition.” Steenhuisen feels as though Ramaphosa should also look to his own party members to be dismissed for their corruption scandals to avoid hypocrisy. Various analysts have expressed that the coalition government will remain intact amidst this friction caused between the two governing parties.
The rand currency and government bonds had dropped due to fear that the coalition government would collapse because of their disagreement over the budget this year. John Steenhuisen had expressed that the DA will vote on Thursday in favour of the Division of Revenue Bill, a legislation which is instrumental in underpinning the budget. The DA’s federal Executive is expected convene on Thursday in order to discuss this matter internally.
Despite talks of a cabinet reshuffle, Minister of the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has denied such claims in a Press Conference held on Wednesday. “I will not know whether there is a reshuffle or not until I am called to say you are being reshuffled.’’