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Tonight’s announcement by President Ramaphosa of a bloated and compromised cabinet is a bad first impression for this new grand coalition and any intention of bringing meaningful reform to the politics that was voted out by a majority in this election. 

Contrary to past commitments by both President Ramaphosa and the DA, the appointment of 32 Ministers and 42 Deputy Ministers shows that when they stand to benefit, their principles soon fall by the wayside.

Notwithstanding these serious concerns relating to the announcement of a cabinet by President Ramaphosa this evening, ActionSA acknowledges that this announcement puts an end to a period of great uncertainty for South Africans.

South Africans have been calling for a reduction in the size of the cabinet for years given that our country has one of the largest cabinets in the world in the context of a country where most of its citizens languish in poverty and struggle to keep up with the cost of living. 

The cabinet announced by President Ramaphosa’s bloated cabinet tonight will collectively cost over R1 billion annually in benefits and perks, with R183 million allocated to salaries of ministers and deputy ministers alone. Among other perks afforded to cabinet ministers, taxpayers can expect annually to cover R2.68 million in salaries for each minister and R2.2 million for each deputy minister. On top of this, taxpayers will cover over R500 million for VIP protection and security and over R390 million for support staffing. These staggering figures does not even account for the additional costs associated with luxury residences afforded to ministers and deputy ministers.

In April 2019, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) submitted a substantive report to President Ramaphosa on the macro-reorganisation of the state following his 2018 SoNA commitment to reduce cabinet. No action has since been taken. Meanwhile, in May last year, the DA’s Dr Leon Schreiber introduced what he referred to publicly as the “Cut Cabinet Perks Bill” in Parliament. It remains to be seen whether the ANC and DA will continue to pursue these objectives within the new grand coalition where loyalty depends on patronage and perks.

Of equal concern is the retention of cabinet members that have been implicated in wrongdoing, signalling that this new grand coalition government is likely to be led by those who have failed before or those who will resist any effort to root out corruption. Despite months of reporting on Paul Mashatile’s corrupt activities, including how he possibly benefitted from tender corruption, he was again included as Deputy President. Meanwhile, Angie Motshegka, who for decades has been unable to turn around basic education, was rewarded with a ministerial position as well as Blade Nzimande who bungled the management of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). 

ActionSA asserts that this new grand coalition government failed to put a reformist foot forward tonight. Years of opposition parties publicly calling for a smaller cabinet and the replacement of failed or implicated ministers have been silenced. This is precisely why ActionSA believes, now more than ever, the voice of an uncompromised unofficial opposition is going to be required. 

Tonight we send the following message to this new government: you are now in government and you, and you alone, are accountable for the direction of our country. You can no longer rely on fear tactics of ‘what-could-have-been-governments’ anymore. Now is the time to reform our country and now is the time we are going to hold you to account for the change you bring.

Issued by ActionSA President Herman Mashaba