Zuma: No cabinet reshuffle after Mangaung

President Jacob Zuma has given the reassurance that his deputy in government, Kgalema Motlanthe, would not be fired.

“The speculation must end, that issue is clear,” he told the audience at a business breakfast organised by The New Age in Bloemfontein this morning.

He also said Cabinet won’t be reshuffled following the ANC’s recent conference here.

“Those who are ministers will remain ministers,” he said.

There has been speculation that Zuma would reshuffle his cabinet and exclude ministers who had campaigned against him like Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale and Arts Minister Paul Mashatile.

Zuma also didn’t rule out the possibility of a woman president in the ANC in the near future.

“Even today there are qualified women who can be a better president than we are,” he said.

There has been speculation that AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who received the most votes of all the additional members of the National Executive Committee, and who received a special mention by Zuma at the breakfast, is being groomed to be a future ANC president.