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The Congress of the People is hardly surprised at the resignation of Joel Netshitenzhe from his position as the DG of Policy Co-ordination for the Presidency. With President Zuma having to meddle with his cabinet members powers and functions to appease his alliance partners, the game of political musical chairs that took place in the upper echelons of the ruling party has seen Joel Netshitenzhe as the last man standing sans chair, authority or influence when the music stopped playing.
According to reports, Netshitenzhe would have been stripped of any authority in the realigned Ministerial clusters. COPE reads into his resignation from his position as a vote of no confidence in the culture of patronage at the cost of competency in the top structures of Government.
The ANC have shot themselves in the foot. One would have thought that at this particular point in time, the President would have opted to surround himself with experienced advisors. Instead, some of the most formidable and sincere talent in the ANC is being systematically alienated and shoved to the periphery. As with local government, where the ANC has admitted this meddling has caused the breakdown in service delivery, things are not going to get better but will get worse.
This is a government more concerned with drawing territorial lines between cabinet ministers than delivering services. In many cases in the cluster realignment, the issue of ultimate responsibility has been obfuscated, not clarified. COPE pointed out when the President appointed his large, expensive and unwieldy cabinet that it would go this way.
The economic future of our country is too important to be the staging ground for a battle between extreme factions within the ruling party.
The DGs contribution has been a proud one and we wish him well in his future endeavours. We hope he is not lost to government entirely.