Here they are, Mr President — the criteria for appointing a competent Cabinet

South Africa is already in a State of Disaster. Not tutored in matters disastrous, I have no idea how far this is from what is called a failed state, given other persistent negative indicators. Never mind. 

A decade-plus of misgovernance has unleashed upon the citizenry a plethora of crises, sufficiently well-known not to bear repeating here. Suffice it to highlight three of these crises, because of their pervasive immediacy and the potential threat they pose to the sociopolitical stability of the country. 

Of the three, the energy crisis is literally beating the daylights out of everyone, bar the fortunate few who can afford alternative power sources. Massive unemployment has wreaked havoc on the lives of tens of millions and has left fewer and fewer working-class families unaffected. Third, criminality has spiralled out of control and is certainly beyond the capability of the police to handle. 

There is hope, though, for our beleaguered nation. It is difficult to think of a better-placed person than President Cyril Ramaphosa to not only halt, but also start reversing our perilous drift towards the abyss. He ought to thank his ancestors for providing him with the opportunity of executing what would be a Herculean feat of taking South Africa to normalcy. 

This has come in the shape of a mandatory Cabinet reshuffle that has remained unattended for too long. The road to the country’s economic recovery inevitably begins with a drastic shakeup of the political command structure, the Cabinet. 

For starters, two gaping Cabinet vacancies must be filled. Even as talk of the professionalisation of the public service continues to grab headlines, for close to a year the Department of Public Service and Administration has been without a minister. Virtually devoid of political leadership also is the Department of Transport. Road users have become familiar with yawning potholes that leave some of our roads resembling detonated minefields.

Then there is Prasa, where debilitating corruption has left the institution in ruins although it continues to receive palliative attention in the organisation’s intensive care unit that parades as a head office. Its incumbent minister has been called to duty elsewhere in the role of CEO for the ANC. A more thankless job would be hard to find in the organisation’s current circumstances. 

A student of Albert Einstein, our President would know about the genius’s profound observation, namely: “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”.

Even closer to the President’s own political leadership perch, Winston Churchill — not my favourite human being — advised his contemporaries “never [to] let a good crisis go to waste”.

Sad to say, a major source of what is becoming the country’s permanent state of crisis has not just been the absence of decisive action against thieves and incompetents operating in the public sector, but their tolerance in high office. The antidote must certainly be their removal from echelons of power.

A good place to start

A comprehensive Cabinet shake-up, where the President wields unfettered authority to appoint — and disappoint — would no doubt be a good place to start. That’s the opportunity, failure to grab which would neuter him and ultimately relegate him to yesterday’s man, a has-been who never was. However, having checked with the amadlozi, I discount that scenario.   

It’s all systems go now. The Zondo Commission on State Capture mainly, but also other investigations, have delivered magnificently on the task the President gave them to probe corruption and recommend appropriate redress. To facilitate the President’s task, the highest council of the ANC also endorsed the Zondo report.

Conscious of what may have dented the otherwise strong public support he has otherwise enjoyed since he took office five years ago, the President is all set to go. In the coming period, he will finish crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s as he prepares to announce his highly anticipated Cabinet reshuffle.   

Fellow South Africans, we will be addressed: 

1. I have decided to invite only the most competent eligible women and men to serve in my Cabinet. My search for such talent has taken me within and beyond the confines of the National Executive Committee. I tapped into the pool in Parliament and even peeped across political party lines. Without treating the Republic of South Africa as a federal state, I will endeavour to ensure regional representation in Cabinet.


2. Appointments will respect the ANC’s policy on gender parity and inclusivity with respect to nationalities represented in the South African population.


3. I have taken on board the repeated calls made by members of the public, requesting that I make sure that the size of my Cabinet takes into account the nation’s state of economic distress, that it is circumscribed, geared to ensure delivery of nothing but essential services to the people. Accordingly, I have decided to lead a slim and trim Cabinet.


4. Within the limits of my remit, I will invite to this scaled-down Cabinet a member who is ofay with matters of interest to civil society and another who will present a business perspective in Cabinet deliberations.


5. With the exception of the Department of International Relations, all deputy-minister posts are abolished with immediate effect. Incumbent deputy ministers will be entitled to benefits as provided for in their contracts and terms of service. Any support the ministers may require will be more effectively supported by increasing the number of directors-general, after careful analyses have been carried out.


6. The present ministerial handbook will be drastically revised to reflect the distressed situation in the country. The replacement handbook will take effect on 1 June 2023.


7. I will not invite to Cabinet any person who has been referred by the Zondo Commission to criminal justice institutions for prosecution or further investigation until they have been cleared of any alleged wrongdoing. Neither will I invite people who have shown flagrant disregard for accepted norms of behaviour by public officers, or have in one way or another acted in an ill-disciplined fashion.


8. I am fully appreciative of and extremely grateful for the support I received from members who voted for me during the contest for the presidency of the ANC during its 55th Conference held in Nasrec. In this regard, I don’t consider myself beholden to any individual or group of them for my appointment. Therefore, any suggestion that a member of the ANC would be entitled to a Cabinet post on this basis is ill-founded and mischievous.