Is Cyril Ramaphosa on his way out? The deputy president's confidante and former unionist, James Motlatsi told eNCA in an interview on Tuesday that he had been reliably informed that Ramaphosa would be axed because President Jacob Zuma thinks he is a "spy of Western capitalists".
"Let me say to you, unconfirmed reports are saying that [this will happen] very soon. This issue, Cyril even raised it in a meeting. We have been told by other people that the president himself, he is saying Cyril is a spy of Western capitalists, so we are waiting for that intelligence report to come out for him," Motlatsi reportedly said.
Motlatsi said he advised Ramaphosa: "People must know that he is fighting corruption, not just talking about fighting corruption. He [Ramaphosa] must be able to be pushed out fighting corruption."
Motlatsi also told eNCA that the axing of higher education minister and SA Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande was "political revenge" because Nzimande had criticised Zuma.
Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, were reportedly fired on the basis of a dodgy intelligence report that alleged they were lobbying Western support to topple Zuma, Eyewitness News (EWN) reported.
The inspector-general of Intelligence was asked to investigate the document but as of September, he had been unable to find it.