Is Zuma rewarding his praise singers at our expense?

The temptation is always to count the heads and argue that there are fewer women cabinet ministers.

Since last week we have again been shouting that President Jacob Zuma has gone against the gender principles that have seen South Africa become a beacon of hope for transformation.

The latest figures, which point to a reduction in the number of women in parliament, should be noted, and we should be worried about it. But we should not let the issue distract us from the key issue: Do we have capable individuals who will deliver on their mandate.

Zuma should look to strike a better gender balance, but what should keep him awake at night is delivery.

The troubling aspects of his new cabinet are that those who failed in the past are now rewarded with positions.

Among them is Bheki Cele, who was found guilty of improper conduct and maladministration when the police authorised a R500-million lease for the new SAPS headquarters in Pretoria.

We should never reward failure . The good thing about Cele's deployment is that he'll be hugging a lot of trees and having seminal discussions with plants.

South Africans should look at what an individual can provide the nation with rather than what the politics of the day entail. Zuma has a duty to transform the economy and build a better legacy for his administration.

But it seems Zuma has been more concerned about his political survival than the needs of the nation, whose majority voted him and his fellow comrades into power.

So preoccupied has the president been with appeasing the different factions within the ruling party that he has unnecessarily bloated the cabinet. The new talking heads will cost us many millions that could have gone to the fiscus.

Monitoring the gender balance will not accelerate delivery, nor will it deliver jobs. The tough question we should be asking is: Do we have the right people serving us?