Yes, it took a while and it was touch and go at times, but this was a gigantic effort. Not many countries can get 11 very diverse parties to agree to form a coalition in less than a month.
It was interesting to see the intricate dance President Cyril Ramaphosa performed to get this to work. One measure was to enlarge the Cabinet by adding two more positions and splitting a few ministries. The sensitive land reform portfolio had to be split from the DA-controlled agriculture ministry for obvious reasons.
(While I’m on agriculture: Many have wondered why the DA was so keen to get the agriculture ministry when the closest John Steenhuisen most probably ever got to farming was buying eggs and rotisserie chickens at Woolies. The answer lies not so much in farming, but in the farmers, particularly the ones who voted for the FF+. It is one of the few potential growth points for the DA.)
But I digress.
Splitting mineral resources from energy — something I suggested in a column more than a year ago — was well overdue and the right decision. Ramaphosa had to retain former secretary-general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, in his Cabinet and Mantashe’s experience serves him well in mining, but thankfully he no longer has anything to do with energy — green or otherwise.
Interestingly, Pravin Gordhan’s final act before his retirement was to propose the scrapping of the public enterprise portfolio, which Ramaphosa did.
New faces
If you don’t recognise many of the faces, you are not alone. More than half of the 32 ministers in the Cabinet are new — in part because the occupants of the 12 seats occupied by the non-ANC (we can no longer call them opposition) parties who, apart from Patricia de Lille, had never served in the Cabinet.
The ANC has six new ministers. Most importantly, Ramaphosa got rid of almost all those mentioned in the Zondo commission report on State Capture.
Wisely, Ramaphosa retained some of the more seasoned ministers. The experienced Enoch Godongwana was needed as minister of finance to stabilise the markets and calm down jittery investors. The respected Barbara Creecy was moved to transport and although this is a loss for the environment department, it is important to have someone of her calibre to deal with the troublesome Transnet, Spoornet and SAA. Equally, keeping Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to deal with Eskom and the Department of Electricity and Energy.
Aaron Motsoaledi returns to the Department of Health after a stint at home affairs (by the way, good luck to Leon Schreiber with that prickly pear). Of course, Motsoaledi came up with the early formulations of the National Health Insurance (NHI), so one can only assume that he will double down on the implementation of the recently passed legislation despite the inevitable court cases.
Human settlements stayed with Mmamoloko Kubayi, tourism with Auntie Pat (de Lille) and Blade Nzimande retained science and technology, albeit without higher education.
Velinkosi Hlabisa, the leader of the IFP, makes sense in cooperative governance and traditional affairs. The jury is out on Pieter Groenewald in correctional services and Gayton McKenzie in sport — although I enjoyed his tweet (with a photo of him in sports gear) immediately after the announcement saying that he can’t respond to all the good wishes since he was already working.
So now they have to make it work.
In the next few days, the executive will have a lekgotla to decide on priorities for the country. They must also agree on a conflict resolution mechanism.
After all the weeks of panic and uncertainty, I believe this is mostly a good Cabinet and a win-win situation for all involved. Now, can we please get down to business and fix the country? Oh, and spare a thought for the President, who will have his hands full with all the mega egos in the Cabinet room. DM
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