Kimberley - Umkhonto We Sizwe Military veterans treasurer general and senior cabinet minister Des Van Rooyen steadfastly believes that his boss President Jacob Zuma is within his right to remove Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, or even himself, as provided for by "our highly regarded Constitution". 

This is what Van Rooyen told News24 in Kimberley on Friday, during his visit to actualise Cabinet’s approved 'back to basics programme', for municipalities that were in the red or dysfunctional.

"We are appointed at his [Zuma] behest, and of course when we are removed, we are removed at his behest," he explained.

Van Rooyen, who is the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, would not be drawn into speculation around why Blade Nzimande was sacked as Higher Education Minister in Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle this week.

He said the president was best placed to explain his decisions.

Zuma appointed Van Rooyen to the position of finance minister in 2015, a position he held for just three days before being reshuffled.

This was after wide spread criticism of his appointment and firing of then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

On Friday, Van Rooyen shared that nine Northern Cape municipalities were negatively fingered by the auditor general.

Visibly upset, he did not comment on whether the nine’s poor service delivery was as a result of deployed cadres who lacked basic financial and administrative skills. 

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