Mbeki retains key figures in new SA cabinet

PRETORIA – South African President Thabo Mbeki kept his deputy and his key ministers for finance, foreign affairs, health and security, in a new broad-based government he announced yesterday.

New opposition faces joined the team to steer South Africa into a second decade of democracy and help the ruling African National Congress (ANC) deliver its promises after a landslide poll win this month. Trevor Manuel, 48, stays as trusted finance minister, as widely expected.He is credited with spearheading market-friendly policies which have won the continent’s biggest economy respect from global investors following the demise of apartheid in 1994.Mbeki named a new finance deputy, Jabu Moleketi, who is seen by analysts as a possible candidate to eventually succeed Manuel, now one of the longest-serving finance ministers in the world.Deputy President Jacob Zuma, whose fate had been the focus of intense speculation following his investigation over an arms deal scandal, survived the cabinet shakeup.Zuma played a key role in winning South Africa’s most populous province of KwaZulu-Natal for the ANC for the first time.Also retained is Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a close Mbeki confidante who has played a leading role in South Africa’s pan-Africanist foreign policy.She will be supported this time by two deputies in a sign Mbeki intends to pursue an even more vigorous foreign policy.Mbeki named New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk, who led the former apartheid party into a humiliating defeat in the April elections with just two percent of the vote, as South Africa’s new minister of environment and tourism.A surprise survivor of the reshuffle was Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.She has been singled out for criticism over the Mbeki government’s slow response to the country’s HIV-AIDS crisis affecting about one in nine people.A key departure from the cabinet is former Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Zulu-based opposition Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).His appointment had been part of a deal that ended bloody feuding between the ANC and the IFP which killed thousands in the early 1990s.”This is a very strong team,” Mbeki told reporters after announcing the government in Pretoria.- Nampa-ReutersTrevor Manuel, 48, stays as trusted finance minister, as widely expected.He is credited with spearheading market-friendly policies which have won the continent’s biggest economy respect from global investors following the demise of apartheid in 1994.Mbeki named a new finance deputy, Jabu Moleketi, who is seen by analysts as a possible candidate to eventually succeed Manuel, now one of the longest-serving finance ministers in the world.Deputy President Jacob Zuma, whose fate had been the focus of intense speculation following his investigation over an arms deal scandal, survived the cabinet shakeup.Zuma played a key role in winning South Africa’s most populous province of KwaZulu-Natal for the ANC for the first time.Also retained is Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a close Mbeki confidante who has played a leading role in South Africa’s pan-Africanist foreign policy.She will be supported this time by two deputies in a sign Mbeki intends to pursue an even more vigorous foreign policy.Mbeki named New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk, who led the former apartheid party into a humiliating defeat in the April elections with just two percent of the vote, as South Africa’s new minister of environment and tourism.A surprise survivor of the reshuffle was Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.She has been singled out for criticism over the Mbeki government’s slow response to the country’s HIV-AIDS crisis affecting about one in nine people.A key departure from the cabinet is former Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Zulu-based opposition Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).His appointment had been part of a deal that ended bloody feuding between the ANC and the IFP which killed thousands in the early 1990s.”This is a very strong team,” Mbeki told reporters after announcing the government in Pretoria.- Nampa-Reuters