Despite rumours to the contrary, Naledi Pandor wants to remain foreign minister, insiders say

13 Jun 2024

Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has not made it back into Parliament — so will President Cyril Ramaphosa expend precious political capital to keep her in the job?

She has been widely rumoured to want to retire for some time. But Naledi Pandor is in reality keen to remain minister of international relations and cooperation, insiders say. However, the decision of the ANC’s ranks in the elections removed her from Parliament, making her continued presence in the Cabinet tenuous.

Ever since her candidature to the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) was mysteriously submitted late and so she didn’t win re-election to the body in November 2022, there has been growing speculation that either Pandor wanted out of the Cabinet and out of politics, or someone wanted her out.

But insiders tell Daily Maverick she is still “very keen” to continue in the job, even if her chances of retaining it shrank dramatically on 29 May.

When the ANC’s list for Parliament came out before the 29 May elections, Pandor was only at spot 86. That meant the ANC would have needed to win around 46% of the national vote for her to remain an MP. It only won just over 40%. So her parliamentary seat disappeared from under her.

Now she has become dependent upon the goodwill of President Cyril Ramaphosa to keep her job as he may appoint two Cabinet ministers from outside Parliament. But a few other Cabinet ministers also lost their parliamentary seats in the ANC’s election wipeout and Pandor might face stiff competition for one of those two posts.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, Defence Minister Thandi Modise and Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu also lost their seats. However, the good news for Pandor is Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has just vacated one of the two slots.

Ramaphosa appointed him from outside Parliament last year to tackle the blackout crisis. But he was on the ANC list and made it back into Parliament on 29 May so Ramaphosa will not have to expend one of his two precious slots if he wishes to reappoint him, which seems likely.

Theoretically though, both Ramokgopa and Pandor, like others, are at the mercy of the ANC’s coalition negotiations with the DA and IFP, which would shrink the patronage Ramaphosa can dispense even smaller.

Fancied portfolio

However, it seems likely that the ANC will insist on keeping the international relations portfolio, as it fancies itself as an international player. That is particularly so since it acquired considerable global kudos (though not in all circles of course) for taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide in Gaza. Conversely, it seems none of the ANC’s likely coalition partners is that interested in the portfolio.

Ramaphosa evidently likes and respects Pandor, so that’s a big plus for her. On the other hand, he is not known to push too hard against resistance from Luthuli House and that might be her undoing. She and ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula don’t much like each other, we hear. It’s rumoured that dates back to his days as transport minister and a fallout with Pandor’s brother, who was in that department.

Pandor certainly has powerful champions. This week, head of the Gift of the Givers Foundation Imtiaz Sooliman said he would ask Ramaphosa to keep her in the job. Though he didn’t spell it out, he was clearly punting Pandor because of the good job he believes she has been doing in fighting for the cause of Gaza, including at the ICJ. Sooliman was speaking about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war at a media briefing at the Desmond and Leah Tutu House in Cape Town.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Sooliman calls on ANC to consider Palestine cause in coalition decisions

Pandor has many other fans, both domestically and internationally, because of her strong Gaza initiative. For the same reason, though, she has many detractors, also at home and abroad.

Even within the government, views on this score are divided. While many, probably most, believe she has done South Africa proud internationally, others question whether taking Israel to the ICJ was worth the cost, which has been to annoy the US and other Western partners — and might still scupper SA’s Agoa trade privileges in the US.

That has not endeared her to all in the SA business community either. South Africa has little concrete to show for it as Israel has largely ignored the ICJ’s orders, her critics say.

Some inside the government believe Pandor has allowed her strong views rather than SA’s national interest to determine SA’s posture in this case. They ask why she has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her champions insist, though, that what she has done is to defend the human rights of the people of Gaza. DM

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Fancied portfolio