President Cyril Ramaphosa announced sweeping changes to his Cabinet on Thursday evening, as well as to the configuration of some government departments and Ministries – key among those, the doing away of the Ministry of State Security, with the political responsibility for the latter, now being placed firmly in the Presidency.
\nThe reason for this new move, the President explained, was to ensure that the country\u2019s domestic and foreign intelligence services more effectively enabled him, as the head of state, to exercise his responsibility to safeguard the security and integrity of the nation.
\nThe President announced several changes to the National Executive, at a time when government is facing several challenges, including working to accelerate its vaccination programme to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, and at the same time, working to ensure peace and stability in the wake of the recent outbreak of violence and destruction in parts of the country.
\nHeading up the new portfolio will be Zizi Kodwa as Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for state security. Kodwa was the former deputy minister of the department of state security. He is a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC) and a former spokesperson for the party.
\nRecent weeks saw a spate of violence and unrest, mostly in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
\nThe President on Thursday evening described this as an \u201corchestrated campaign of public violence, destruction and sabotage\u201d.
\nHe said that while calm has been restored to the affected areas and law enforcement agencies are working hard to bring those responsible to justice, government has acknowledged that its security services were found \u201cwanting\u201d in several respects.
\nExpert panel appointed
\nTo strengthen the country\u2019s security services and to prevent a recurrence of such events, the President announced the appointment of an expert panel to lead a thorough and critical review of government\u2019s preparedness and the shortcomings in its response.
\nThe members of the panel are:
\n\u2022\tProf Sandy Africa, as chair,
\n\u2022\tAdvocate Mojanku Gumbi
\n\u2022\tSilumko Sokupa
\nThe panel will examine all aspects of government\u2019s security response and make recommendations on strengthening its capabilities.
\nIn addition, the President announced the appointment of Dr Sydney Mufamadi as National Security Adviser, to improve support to the President and the National Security Council in the strategic management of the country\u2019s security. This position has been vacant since Charles Nqakula stepped down earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Source: South African Government News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"