‘Bloated super Presidency’ needs dedicated, accountable oversight, MPs tell Ramaphosa in robust debate

EFF leader Julius Malema. (Photo: Kopano Tlape / GCIS)

By Victoria O’Regan

23 Jul 2024

When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the Presidency Budget Vote on Tuesday, MPs hammered home the need for dedicated oversight of the Presidency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about everything except his office’s R612-million budget before the National Assembly on Tuesday. But it was the scope and scale of the Presidency, which has no parliamentary committee to account to, that drew the ire of MPs during the debate.

The uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party’s chief whip, impeached judge John Hlophe, questioned why there had never been a portfolio committee in Parliament overseeing the Presidency. “That is a serious lacuna,” he said.

presidency oversight hlophe uMkhonto Wesizwe party chief whip, impeached judge John Hlophe. (Photo: Kopano Tlape / GCIS)

“With the dissolution of the Department of Public Enterprises, state-owned companies will now fall under the Presidency, which means they will no longer be accountable to Parliament,” said Hlophe.

“The President only accounts to Parliament during quarterly question and answer sessions, which are often marred by bias and lack of transparency,” he continued.

ActionSA caucus leader Athol Trollip also sharply questioned the lack of parliamentary oversight of the Presidency.

“After an absence of 10 years in this House, I see that the more things change, the more things stay the same. In 2009, as the leader of the opposition, I called for a dedicated oversight committee of the Presidency. We have nine such committees in the provinces, and the question is, why not here?

“In the past two months, I’ve heard the same chorus being sung by a new choir. When will the refrain be heard? Why is the Presidency so averse to direct, inclusive oversight? Is it because your office has become a bloated, super department with multiple ministries and deputy ministries as enumerated by former Judge Hlophe, or is it because you just do not want to account to this House?” asked Trollip.

No parliamentary oversight committee exists for the Presidency, which includes Intelligence, the National Security Council, the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECC), the structural reform unit Operation Vulindlela, and so much more.

Following the dissolution of the public enterprises department, which was responsible for five state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in its portfolio, Ramaphosa’s office seized control of the restructuring of SOEs under the newly formed Government of National Unity (GNU) Cabinet, Business Day reported. This brings the likes of Eskom and Transnet under the Presidency’s fold.

Longstanding calls, including from Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in his State Capture Report, for the establishment of an oversight committee on the Presidency that is increasingly centralising powers, have fallen on deaf ears over the years. In 2022, in the wake of the Phala Phala scandal, opposition parties reiterated the need for presidential accountability.

presidency oversight malema EFF leader Julius Malema. (Photo: Kopano Tlape / GCIS)

On Tuesday, Hlophe, and later EFF leader Julius Malema, criticised the GNU Cabinet for being too big. With 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers, South Africa’s bloated Cabinet is one of the largest in the world.

“We will never support this budget vote,” said Malema. “We can save a lot of money by reducing the Cabinet by getting rid of deputy ministers.”

Decentralisation of SOEs

This week, South Africa will mark 120 consecutive days with no power cuts, something last experienced in September 2020.

In his speech, the President said “There has been a marked improvement in the performance of Eskom’s power stations” with the support of the NECC.

“However, it is too soon to claim victory,” he said. “Our electricity system is still vulnerable and we cannot yet rule out a possibility of further load shedding.”

Read more: Eskom offers signs of hope that the power crisis has turned a corner

The former electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has been moved out of the Presidency with the establishment of the Department of Electricity and Energy, of which he is now minister.

On Tuesday, deputy minister of electricity and energy Samantha Graham (DA) said that although this new department had been announced by the President, it had not yet been allocated its budget for the 2024/25 financial year.

As a result, she said, “there is no real clarity on the fiscal responsibility for the establishment or the running” of the department between the Presidency and the Department of Mineral Resources and Petroleum.

“And while the President has moved Electricity out of the Presidency, he has moved state-owned enterprises in. The implication of this is that Eskom now resides in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and not within the Department of Electricity and Energy,” said Graham.

She said initial indications were that the power utility would be moved into the new department, “so that the executive entrusted with the function of Energy and Electricity would have direct oversight over the entity. It makes absolute sense that the organisation responsible for electricity be housed within that department.”

In his Opening of Parliament Address, Ramaphosa referred to a holding company which would centralise ownership of the SOEs.

Read more: Striking a balance – Ramaphosa outlines ANC policy with traces of the DA’s blueprint

“In our estimation, this [the holding company] is merely a different model for the failed Department of Public Enterprises, which creates another unnecessary level of bureaucracy. The cost implications of this are also astronomical and unjustifiable in an economy that is trying to claw its way out of the financial morass in which it currently exists,” said Graham.

“While the Presidency was perhaps the perfect vehicle for an emergency intervention into the electricity crisis, it is not necessarily the answer to the failing SOEs.

“The electricity crisis warranted a centralised coordination from within the office of the President, in order to fast-track decision-making and implementation of the Energy Action Plan, whereas the turnaround of state-owned enterprises, while urgent, requires that each SOE be housed within the relevant line department as a mechanism to ensure that policy and implementation are aligned for greater efficiency,” she said.

“As a result, we will continue to lobby for the decentralisation of SOEs and particularly of Eskom, and to have them removed from the Presidency as soon as possible to effect a faster turnaround.”

Graham said the Presidency would still have oversight of the electricity and energy sector through Operation Vulindlela. However, Graham said, “The Presidency’s role in Operation Vulindlela is not implementation. It is high-level strategic planning and coordination. It is the role of the relevant ministry to ensure that implementation is taking place and to ensure oversight and monitoring.”

It was for this reason she believed that Eskom should reside in the Department of Electricity and Energy and not within the Presidency.

“While I support the budget of the Presidency at present, it must change in time to align with its mandate in order to continue the good work of Operation Vulindlela, and to ensure ongoing collaboration with the new Department of Electricity and Energy to address energy security, the restructuring of Eskom and the roll-out of the Just Energy Transition,” she said.

On Wednesday, the President will have the final say, in his reply to the Presidency Budget Vote. DM

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