They are not here, Sir! The Cabinet brigade has gone missing in action!

The MK and ANC veteran, Mavuso Msimang, once penned a moving tribute to the Luthuli Detachment. Writing in tribute to the late SANDF General Lehlohonolo Moloi, Msimang’s piece, “The Dream the Luthuli Detachment heroes died for”, paints a heart-wrenching picture of the guerrillas who fell during the Wankie Campaign.

What made me recall Msimang’s moving article was the thought I have been grappling with as my mind debated the state of the republic and the calibre of leaders who are at the helm. Of great concern to me was the shining absence of a number of Cabinet ministers as well as the incompetence of those who take to posting on social media every time they do the bare minimum. Their OCD with public attention only masks their urge to have South Africans clap hands for a fish’s ability to swim.

Let’s first contextualise the South African Cabinet before I borrow from Msimang’s use of MK poet George Shea’s oration, “The Roll Call” in my own roll call of incumbents of the various portfolios in government leadership.

Since the advent of democracy, South Africa has had eight Cabinets varying in sizes. Nelson Mandela had a Cabinet of 21 ministers. Thabo Mbeki’s first term had a Cabinet of 28 ministers, while his second term had a Cabinet of 26. Interim president, Kgalema Motlanthe, who took the reigns at the resignation of Mbeki, had a Cabinet of 28 ministers. The much-hyped “father of RET,” Jacob Zuma, had a Cabinet of 36 ministers in his first term and 35 in his second term.

Mind you, all these ministers had deputies. In came current incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 with his first Cabinet of 33 ministers and an equal number of deputies. In his “reshuffling” of Cabinet in 2021 he decreased the number to 23 — a move hailed as being progressive in terms of cutting what was seen as the ruling party’s comrade employment scheme. However, this “restructure” had a cat in the bag — a total of 36 deputy ministries.

In total, the current government has a complement of 59 officials who are supposed to be implementers of government policies and ensure that such policies translate into delivery of services to the voters. The sad reality though is that an overwhelming majority are missing in action and yet the electorate keeps on footing the wage bill.

I am sure that the community of scribes, Mavuso Msimang included, will allow me to borrow from “The Dream the Luthuli Detachment heroes died for” as I use this piece to call on those that we have entrusted with our vote to account for their absence in the time when our people need them most.

Unlike the Luthuli Detachment that Msimang writes fondly about and the Light Brigade that Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote about that marched with, “Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death…”.

The brigade we have in the Cabinet does not charge and ride boldly and well into serving the republic and its citizens.

Just like Msimang doing a roll call for the Luthuli detachment, I would like to do my own roll call for the Cabinet but allow me too to invoke George Shea’s “Roll Call”:

“Not all men
Nor any other book but the register
Will bear me out, that all are present and well.
But to make sure let us have a roll call.
And if none answers to his name,
Know that it is for your own good
And mine that he has fallen;
Fallen never to rise!
Now hang on my lips
And listen to the roll call.”