Letter from Carol Bower (Chairperson of the board – Quaker Peace Centre) to President Jacob Zuma

28th March 2017

President Jacob Zuma
The Presidency
Pretoria
Republic of South Africa.
By email to president@presidency.gov.za

Dear Mr President,

Re: Rumours of an impending cabinet reshuffle.

While the Quaker Peace Centre (QPC) respects your presidential discretion to appoint your cabinet, both the rule of law and your oath of office preclude you from acting irrationally when hiring and firing cabinet members.
In this regard the QPC, with all due deference to the high office you hold, draws your attention to a discussion of the rationality requirement recently published in Business Day and authored by a director of Accountability Now, Adv. Paul Hoffman SC. The link to the article is:
http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2017-02-13-constitution-prevents-president-from-horsing-around-with-the-treasury/.

Your decision to recall the Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance from London, where they were busy with a duly authorised investment road-show, has led to speculation regarding the possibility of a cabinet reshuffle in which both will be side-lined by you. While we do not wish to participate publicly in that speculation, we write to remind you that you are constrained in what you do by the tenets of the Constitution.

You are requested to steer well clear of irrationality in whatever course of action you are contemplating or may have in mind for the cabinet, failing which we reserve the right to litigate urgently in the Constitutional Court for appropriate relief.
Sincerely

Carol Bower
Chairperson: QPC Board