President Cyril Ramaphosa has strongly reprimanded Finance Minister Tito Mboweni for the latter’s comments on the removal of Zambia’s central bank governor, Denny Kalyalya.
On Saturday, Zambian president Edgar Lungu announced that he had terminated Kalyalya’s contract with immediate and did not outline the reasons for the decision.
Lungu’s move solicited a strong rebuke from Mboweni, who tweeted on Sunday “Presidents in Africa must stop this nonsense of waking up in the morning and fire a Central Bank Governor! You cannot do that. This is not some fiefdoms of yours! Your personal property?! No!!”
Mboweni, former governor of the SA Reserve Bank, said in another tweet that Lungu had to explain his decision “or else hell is on its way; I will mobilize.”
Mboweni’s tweets caused a diplomatic storm between the two neighboring countries, which enjoy historical ties, forcing Ramaphosa reprimand Mboweni.
“The president of the republic of South Africa, his excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, has strongly reprimanded the Minister of Finance, Mr Tito Mboweni, following comments made by the minister on social media regarding the removal of Zambia’s Central Bank Governor by President Edgar Lungu,” the Presidency said in a statement.
“President Ramaphosa wishes to assure the government and people of the Republic of Zambia that the unfortunate remarks do not reflect the views of the South African Government and its people,” it added.
Meanwhile, the ANC also expressed deep concern over the comments made by former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Manuel, the longest serving Finance minister, is reported to have said that the ANC tenure in office since 1994 was “almost three decades that were wasted”.
Manuel is said to have made the comments on Thursday the 20th August 2020 during a webinar discussion hosted by Catholic Parliamentary Liason Office and the Hanns Siedel Foundation.
“While we respect Manuel’s right to freedom of speech, we believe that there is absolutely no basis to portray a doom-laden picture of the country to the media and to the outside world,” the party said a statement today.
“We are painfully aware of an ongoing onslaught against our movement being desperately choreographed on various social media platforms and urge Manuel not to fall into this trap,” the party added.
