Cosatu has become the latest addition to the choir condemning Brian Molefe’s appointment to Parliament.
In a statement that followed a sitting of the trade union federation’s central executive committee, Cosatu expressed “disappointment” in the contentious move to send the former chief executive of Eskom to Parliament.
“On Brian Molefe, the central executive committee registered its disappointment in the manner that the ANC dealt with the deployment of Brian Molefe, while he is yet to clear his name in the state capture report. He still needs to account on why he resigned and when is he responding to the allegations of corruption during his term as the chief executive of Eskom,” the statement read.
Molefe was nominated for the position in Parliament by the North West province, whose premier and chairperson is believed to be a close ally of President Jacob Zuma, was sworn in as an MP last week.
There is wide-spread speculation that Molefe was parachuted into the position in order to take over from Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan or Ebrahim Patel as minister for economic development in a pending Cabinet reshuffle, which could see Zuma’s detractors given the boot.
The ANC women’s and youth leagues have supported the deployment of Molefe to Parliament, while tripartite alliance partner the South African Communist Party has strongly condemned the move. The two leagues have made repeated disparaging remarks against Gordhan.
When asked if Cosatu supported the call for the finance minister to be reshuffled, officials said that no justifiable reasons had been put forward by Gordhan’s detractors.
City Press has in recent weeks reported on possible mass resignations from Cabinet should the finance minister be removed from this position.
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