By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has postponed announcing the changes to his executive on Thursday due to ill health.
The final consultations were set to occur at Mahlamba Ndlopfu – the president’s official residence in Pretoria.
Insiders with intimate knowledge told News24 that Ramaphosa cancelled all his engagements, including consultative meetings with national ANC officials and tripartite alliance partners after he caught a cold earlier this week.
Ramaphosa is said to have been unwell since Monday, when he hosted Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
He is under pressure to fill vacancies in his executive, including the deputy president position, and select the new electricity minister he announced in his State of the Nation Address.
Ramaphosa was due to meet ANC alliance partners to inform them of his final decision following weeks of consultation.
He was also supposed to have had a separate meeting with ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile, who is likely to become the next deputy president of the country following the resignation of David Mabuza from government.
“He told them he could not meet because he has a cough, and so he postponed,” a second insider with knowledge of the matter said.
They said all indications were that Ramaphosa would now announce changes to his executive on Sunday.
Earlier this week presidential spokersperson Vincent Magwenya told the media Ramaphosa was expected to announce changes to his cabinet “in a number of days”.