I have become a big believer that those who win elections should act quickly when they get into office. Political parties receive a mandate when they are elected. Their promises are fresh in voters’ minds. They can make an impression and show their credentials by acting on those promises quickly. Time is of the essence.
President Cyril Ramaphosa did it (kind of) in one, small, respect in 2019. At the beginning of May 2019, the ANC announced that Ramaphosa had its full backing to reduce the size of the cabinet after the elections.
“Cabinet will be cut to below 30 positions,” vowed Fikile Mbalula, the ANC’s head of elections at the time. “A study and a report have been done by the ANC and so it will be a reality.”
At the time there were 36 ministers and 38 deputy ministers in the executive Ramaphosa had inherited from his comrade Jacob Zuma in 2018. Ramaphosa started well. He slashed the number of ministers from 36 to 28. Hooray! Applause!
On Ramaphosa’s desk in 2019 was a report from the department of public service & administration, submitted to him just the month before his cabinet announcement in May, that said he should trim his bloated cabinet to no more than 22 ministers. He didn’t quite get there, but with time he could have progressed further.
His hero and mentor Nelson Mandela had, after all, led a government of national unity with several parties in it and he did it with just 28 ministers and 22 deputies. Mandela’s successors (Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe) did not increase these numbers. It was with the arrival of Zuma in 2009 that the cabinet ballooned to 35 ministers and 38 deputy ministers.
The DA very correctly squealed itself hoarse at these successive bloated Zuma cabinets and the sheer waste and patronage they represented. It was clear right from the onset of Zuma’s presidency that his cabinet was a gravy train for his ANC and SA Communist Party supporters. How else could someone as untalented and unsuitable as Bathabile Dlamini or Mosebenzi Zwane find themselves in the vicinity of a cabinet position?
When the GNU was formed in June, Ramaphosa expanded his cabinet from 30 to 32 ministers and from 36 to 43 deputy ministers. What do these people do? Why are there so many of them and why do we need more than what we had under Mandela and Mbeki?
The DA very correctly continued to point out Ramaphosa’s weakness when he continued with a bloated government when he took over from Zuma. In a statement following Ramaphosa’s move into the Union Buildings in 2018, the DA made a profound point about the shocking size of Ramaphosa’s cabinet: “South Africa’s sluggish economy and growing budget deficit call for restraint in government spending. The ANC government, however, appears far removed from this reality and continues to spend recklessly for the comfort and extravagant lifestyles of members of the executive ... Government cannot honestly expect South Africans to tighten their belts when it is doing the exact opposite.”
This is why, over the past six months, I have been gobsmacked by the DA — and other coalition partners — who have suddenly lost their tongues over this issue. When the GNU was formed in June, Ramaphosa expanded his cabinet from 30 to 32 ministers and from 36 to 43 deputy ministers. What do these people do? Why are there so many of them and why do we need more than what we had under Mandela and Mbeki?
As ActionSA’s Athol Trollip pointed out for the umpteenth time last week, these positions were created “solely to satisfy political egos and alliances”.
“The jet-setting GNU’s insistence on wasteful spending is a slap in the face of every citizen who is forced to tighten their belt to make it through each month,” he said. “We need a government that prioritises the people, not the alliances.”
So, with their very first act, the GNU members threw their alleged principles [almost all the participants in the GNU had at some point or other decried the idea of large executives] out and rushed to put their snouts in the trough. They are feeding with absolute shamelessness while the populace bears the brunt of poor economic growth, unemployment, homelessness, and poverty.
The GNU members had a chance to do something new and imaginative, to build a lean and mean machine at the head of government and move from there. This is the easy stuff, and they have failed to lead by example. How can they deliver on anything else when their first act in office was to widen their trough so more of them could eat? It tells you something about this government, and it tells you even more about the so-called “principled” leaders of the parties in this coalition.
We are now well into the festive season. There are many South Africans who will have nothing on the stove on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, our cabinet members and their vast caravan of deputy ministers will be tucking into their Christmas lunches, their plates piled high. Where is the shame?
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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