Parties get set for serious talks on cabinet makeup

Serious talks among the members of the government of national unity (GNU) on the composition of the cabinet have not yet begun, ANC and DA leaders have confirmed.

The national executive is dissolved once President Cyril Ramaphosa is inaugurated on Wednesday and new ministers will need to be appointed to ensure a functional government.

Traditionally, the cabinet is appointed soon after the incoming president is inaugurated, but there is no constitutional requirement on the time frame for the announcement of the national executive.

“The government of national unity in 1994 took months to put together. We came off the [election] campaign and delivered this government in two weeks. We are only starting to talk on Tuesday,” a Ramaphosa aide told Sowetan's sister publication Business Day.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya suggested on Monday that Ramaphosa might need more time this time.

“Ideally, you would want cabinet to be announced as soon as possible after the inauguration. But this time consultations may take longer. But the idea is still to try to do it as soon as possible. Cabinet has got to be appointed in terms of the priorities of the seventh administration,” Magwenya said.

The DA, IFP and other parties supported Ramaphosa’s nomination and election in parliament and are expected to be rewarded with cabinet appointments. 

Some DA leaders believe Ramaphosa may hand the DA no less than five senior cabinet posts.

Ramaphosa will have to satisfy constituencies within the ANC, but also keep in mind that if he does not appoint a national executive fit for purpose to aggressively deliver on his reform agenda, the ANC's electoral decline is expected to sharply continue. 

Analysts and opposition parties seem to agree that an expanded cabinet under the new ANC/DA+ coalition would undermine public trust in the incoming administration. 

ActionSA said any increase in the number of cabinet ministers, which now stands at 30 ministers and 36 deputy ministers, would amount to hypocrisy in light of pre-election promises from the key coalition partners to reduce the size of the cabinet.

The party’s parliamentary caucus leader, Athol Trollip, said increasing the size of “an already bloated cabinet” would be a reversal in Ramaphosa’s commitment to reduce the number of ministries “but also an abrupt U-turn on the DA’s commitment to cut down a cabinet they once referred to as a wasteful patronage cabinet.

He said 30 serving ministers and 36 deputy ministers cost taxpayers more than R146m a year in salaries alone.

Lawson Naidoo of the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution said: “We need an efficient and effective cabinet that delivers a cohesive and joined-up policy programme. A smaller, leaner cabinet would enable this. Party considerations should not play an overriding part in the composition of cabinet.” They have in the past “led to policy incoherence and inconsistency”.

Meanwhile, political newcomer MK says its 58 MPs, who boycotted the first sitting of National Assembly for the seventh administration, will participate in the house as part of the official opposition.

MK leader Jacob Zuma said on Sunday that the party would participate in the legislative arm of the state, along with the progressive caucus, which includes the EFF, Al Jama-ah, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, United African Transformation and the UDM.

Together these parties have a combined 100 out of 400 seats in the National Assembly

Debate this week is expected to continue on the legitimacy of the GNU, which the ANC cobbled together to secure Ramaphosa’s re-election for a second term as head of state.