Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
Eleven Ministers resign!
Just received the following press release from the Presidency:
Statement on the resignation of members of Cabinet and Deputy Ministers
President Thabo Mbeki has, to date, received letters of resignation from the following members of Cabinet which, regretfully, he has had to accept:
1. Deputy President
2. Minister of Defence
3. Minister of Finance
4. Minister in the Presidency, Dr. Essop Pahad
5. Minister of Intelligence
6. Minister of Correctional Services
7. Minister of Public Enterprises
8. Minister of Science and Technology
9. Minister of Public Works
10. Minister of Provincial and Local Government
11. Minister of Public Service and Administration
The following Deputy Ministers have also tendered their resignations:
1. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Aziz Pahad
2. Deputy Minister of Finance and
3. Deputy Minister of Correctional Services
The resignations will be effective from the day that the President’s resignation takes effect. All the Ministers have expressed their availability to assist the incoming administration in the hand-over process and any other assistance that might be sought from them. President Mbeki thanked the Deputy President, the Ministers and the Deputy Ministers for their dedicated service to the nation and wished them well in their future endeavours.
This means a third of the cabinet is gone. The new President will now have to appoint new ministers from among the members of the National Assembly and will have to do so sooner rather than later.
For me these resignation suggests that the new ANC leadership has some serious problems on its hands. While they specifically requested Ministers to stay on, elevn have now decided to resign. This suggests that the unity of which Gwede Mantashe spoke on Saturday is a long way off. I cannot but wonder whether this might not suggest that there are some truth to the rumours about discussions among some cabinet Ministers to form a new political party.
Whatever happens, Gwede Mantashe and Jacob Zuma must be rather upset by these new developments as it creates the impression of an ANC leadership not in control of its members.
