South Africa

Ramaphosa criticised for feeding the bloat

Businesses and opposition parties have lashed out at the latest cabinet changes announced by president Cyril Ramphosa, decrying an over-bloated executive and a move to consolidate power within the office of the presidency – which has no oversight from parliament.

Ramaphosa announced a cabinet reshuffle on Monday night (6 March), which saw various ministers moved around, deputy ministers promoted, and two entirely new ministries appointed.

The changes increased the president’s cabinet to 30 ministers – one of the largest in the world.

Responding to the changes, the chief executive of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), Busi Mavuso, expressed hope that the new cabinet would provide some sort of fresh energy to the government – however, she said there was growing concern about the appointment of two new ministers, as the executive was already too bloated.

One of the new appointees, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the country’s new minister of electricity, is drawing most of the focus. The minister has been tasked with ending the load shedding crisis in the country and will be given certain executive powers by the president to do so.

However, Mavuso said there is concern that the role may step on many toes in other departments, which could lead to turf wars which may not be beneficial to smooth progress in resolving the crisis.

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The electricity minister will be expected to facilitate the coordination of the numerous departments and entities involved in the crisis response, work with the Eskom leadership to turn around the performance of existing power stations, and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity.

The response to the crisis was previously rooted in the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the Department of Public Enterprises – with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment also involved.

Despite the current status of the national power utility, Mavuso said that some concrete steps are being taken to decentralise energy generation in the country that, if successful, will mitigate the long-term effects of the energy crisis.

“Eskom is in the process of being restructured. The licensing threshold for an embedded generation has been raised. Nersa processes for licensing larger projects are being streamlined. New generation capacity is being procured. And municipalities have been enabled to procure power from independent power producers.”

Some of these initiatives fix self-inflicted problems, and some are woefully delayed. But they do mark concrete improvements to areas of vital concern, said Mavuso.

Surprise ministry

Along with the minister of electricity, Ramaphosa appointed Maropene Ramokgopa as Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation – another new ministry within the presidency.

This appointment surprised many, and confusion persists about why this position was adopted. It has been seen as a political appointment, with the president keeping his political allies close.

The opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said that the appointment of the two new ministries would add R74 million to the public wage bill.

The party said that Ramaphosa had pushed the additional cost of a bloated cabinet onto the average taxpayer while the nation struggled with sluggish economic growth and high levels of unemployment.

On top of the two new ministers, various other changes were made in multiple departments, including transport, tourism and more.

In response to these changes, Mavuso said, “while there are quite a few new ministers in that list, some have been transferred from previous ministries. BLSA is concerned that some underperforming ministries are unchanged.”

The Democratic Alliance said that Ramaphosa had merely moved around “a batch of broken eggs in the same basket”.

The party expressed concern about the growing number of ministries now active in the president’s office, with four ministers and four deputy ministers working under the president.

This has been criticised on two fronts: the first is that many of the roles undertaken by the presidency are now running parallel to other responsible portfolios – indicating that the president does not trust his appointed ministers to do the job.

The second is that the office of the presidency does not have oversight from any portfolio committee in parliament, meaning that there is no parliamentary body to hold these executives to account.

“There is no expertise brought in from the private sector, no consequences for ministers who have failed dismally in their existing roles, and no show of bravery and backbone by the President to rid his cabinet of ministers who have repeatedly plunged South Africans into disaster,” the DA said.

The key changes included:

  • Minister of Electricity: Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (New ministry)
  • Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation: Maropene Ramokgopa (New ministry)
  • Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs: Thembi Nkadimeng replaces Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
  • Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure: Sihle Zikalala replaces Patricia de Lille
  • Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture: Zizi Kodwa replaces Nathi Mthethwa
  • Minister of Tourism: Patricia de Lille replaces Lindiwe Sisulu
  • Minister of Women, Youth and Persons With Disabilities: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma replaces Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
  • Minister in the Presidency: Khumbudzo Ntshavheni replaces Mondli Gungubele
  • Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies: Mondli Gungubele replaces Khumbudzo Ntshavheni

Read: This is South Africa’s new minister of electricity – as Ramaphosa announces another surprise new ministry

Artmotion S.Africa

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