Calls for a Cabinet reshuffle are not an act of retaliation against ministers who called for President Jacob Zuma to step down, but rather a way to rid the country of incompetent ministers, North West African National Congress (ANC) chairperson and Premier Supra Mahumapelo said.

"People calling for a reshuffle are misunderstood," he said.

According to party insiders, ministers Derek Hanekom, Aaron Motsoaledi and Thulas Nxesi were amongst those who asked for Zuma to resign or for the NEC to recall him. The motion was proposed by Tourism Minister Hanekom.

Free State ANC chairperson Premier Ace Magashule is reported to have told the NEC meeting that the ministers must voluntarily step down from Cabinet or be removed because it would be difficult for them to serve under someone they had lost faith in.

Addressing the media after the meeting, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said this would have serious consequences.

The ANC Youth League in Kwa-Zulu Natal has publicly said it would lobby for members of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) who serve in Zuma's Cabinet and supported the motion for Zuma to be relieved of his duties to resign themselves or be fired.

Need for performance assessments

Mahumapelo said calls for the president to fire some of his ministers had been made long before the NEC meeting, which he described as an "ordinary sitting".

Mahumapelo said at the centre of the calls coming from various quarters of society, including from those considered to be Zuma loyalists, was a need to assess the performance of government and individual ministers.

"It's about those not performing well and are still holding their positions. The call is about ministers [who are] in Cabinet but not respecting the collective wisdom of the Cabinet. The call is about ministers who are not pushing the radical social economic transformation and so on," he told News24.

Mahumapelo said Zuma was not the only person being asked to reshuffle his Cabinet.

"People have been calling for a reshuffle in our province because we lost an MEC in an accident. We are nine instead of ten," said Mahumapelo.

He said both the president and himself had the prerogative to decide on the way forward, adding that he had opted not to appoint a new MEC because he felt it was not necessary.

"Because MEC's don't run departments, they are run by administrators."