Is Derek Hanekom preparing to have bricks thrown at him?

Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom appeared to be in a philosophical mood on Wednesday morning‚ a day after the African National Congress (ANC) confirmed that his bid to have President Jacob Zuma removed had failed.

Taking a break from his usual tweets about the tourism industry‚ ?@Derek–Hanekom tweeted: “ ‘A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.’ Thomas Jefferson”.

He followed the late former US president’s words with a quote from motivational speaker Dennis Waitley: “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist‚ or accept the responsibility for changing them.”

He had earlier retweeted Great Minds Quotes?@GreatestQuotes’ post: “ ‘Don’t hate‚ it’s too big a burden to bear.’ — Martin Luther King.”

There were questions over whether Hanekom would retain his Cabinet post after he broke ranks with Zuma’s backers and filed a motion of no confidence in the party leader at a national executive committee (NEC) meeting.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said‚ after announcing on Tuesday that Zuma would not be stepping down‚ that NEC members who spoke out against Zuma will not be affected for doing so.

“We don’t have this thing called ministers who talk in the NEC as ministers. Deployment is a different matter and I’m sure [that] if they made a call that call in a cabinet meeting‚ that question would be relevant. Those members were given a right [and] allowed to continue to discuss an issue raised in that meeting‚” Mantashe said. – TMG Digital