Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Monday night Cabinet reshuffle, saying it was more a “gratuitous bloating”.

Ramaphosa announced a number of changes to his national executive, which he said was to ensure that government was properly capacitated and to give effect to commitments made in his State of the Nation Address.

Ramaphosa added two new ministries to his Cabinet, with Kgosientsho Ramokgopa heading the Ministry of Electricity and Maropene Ramokgopa as Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Steenhuisen explained that the new appointments were contrary to a commitment Ramaphosa made in 2019 to reduce the number of ministries in the South African national executive.

Steenhuisen noted that these ministries would add an additional R74-million to the public wage bill.

“It is simply unfathomable that the President can push this cost onto the South African taxpayer while the nation languishes under sluggish economic growth, the highest unemployment rate in recent history, and an electricity crisis that is shedding jobs at record numbers,” he said.

The DA alleged that when Kgosientsho Ramokgopa held the Tshwane mayoral position, he nearly wiped out the City of Tshwane’s finances with a smart meter contract that was declared highly irregular by the Auditor General.

“If Cyril Ramaphosa thinks that Ramokgopa will solve the electricity crisis, then permanent blackouts are inevitable,” Steenhuisen stated.

South Africa has experienced near-permanent loadshedding, mostly at stage 4 or higher, since September 2022. Loadshedding has been implemented for 127 consecutive days.

Steenhuisen highlighted that there was no announcement of performance agreements, targets, or tangible outcomes and timelines for the Ministers, saying this made it impossible to gauge whether either Minister had performed.

He added that housing both Ministers in the Presidency also meant that they would be shielded from accountability in Parliament where a Committee on the Presidency still did not exist.

Steenhuisen explained that aside from these notable changes, or lack thereof, Ramaphosa had merely moved around a batch of broken eggs in the same basket.

He said there was no expertise brought in from the private sector, no consequences for Ministers who had failed dismally in their existing roles, and no show of bravery and backbone by Ramaphosa to rid his Cabinet of Ministers who have repeatedly plunged South Africans into disaster.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) described Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle as a series of missed opportunities, saying internal African National Congress political considerations were more important in Ramaphosa’s outlook than the needs of South Africans. 

“With the President having to manage competing factions within his party, it was to be expected that more comrades would be rewarded Cabinet postings. What we have witnessed tonight is just a continuation of his super-bloated, mega Cabinet and the ongoing centralisation of power. Now the Presidency includes the President, the Deputy President, no less than four Ministers and multiple Deputy Ministers,” said IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.

He pointed out that despite the many changes made by Ramaphosa, key areas of daily societal concern, such as crime, poverty unemployment and inequality – which were dealt with largely in the economic and security clusters - were left untouched, and these underperforming Ministers remained firmly in their jobs.

“Not only does the President appear to be unmoved by the prevailing challenges faced by the people of South Africa, he backtracked yet again in relation to streamlining his Cabinet, with the addition of new Ministers and Deputy Ministers,” the IFP said, echoing the DA’s comments.

ActionSA said Ramaphosa’s long-awaited cabinet reshuffle is underwhelming at best, and demonstrates the dearth of talent in the ruling party. 

The party noted that the promised “New Dawn” has been completely abandoned in the interest of political expediency and is evidenced by this recycling of "the usual incompetence".

ActionSA President Herman Mashaba said the reshuffle is tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.

“This cabinet proffers no hope for the millions of South Africans who waited with baited breath for change that might bring some reprieve to the interminable loadshedding that has disrupted their lives for 15 years,” he said.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Ramaphosa has appointed Paul Mashatile as Deputy President, after David Mabuza resigned last week.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni is the new Minister in the Presidency and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is the Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.

Mondli Gungubele has moved to Communications and Digital Technologies, Thembi Nkadimeng is the new Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Noxolo Kiviet is appointed as Minister of Public Service and Administration and Sihle Zikalala is Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.

Zizi Kodwa is the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Patricia de Lille is heading the Ministry of Tourism and Sindisiwe Chikunga is the new Transport Minister.