Tonight’s cabinet reshuffle needed to be a cabinet clean-out
05 August 2021
Tonight’s cabinet reshuffle contains one small positive in the departure of Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, and then a whole lot of the same, just dressed up in a different portfolio’s robes. It was also a big missed opportunity to demonstrate a real commitment to accountability, as some of the most compromised and worst performing ministers managed to hold onto their jobs.
Above all, this announcement confirms what we’ve known all along: there is only so much shuffling and reshuffling you can do with this limited pool of cadres. The list of non-performing ministers far exceeds those who do their jobs, and so what was required tonight was more clean-out and less shuffle.
We welcome the resignation of Minister Mkhize. Given the damning evidence against him - and given the fact that President Ramaphosa has been in possession of the SIU report into the Digital Vibes contract for more than a month now - it is baffling that it took so long to get rid of him. But this is better late than never.
What we do not welcome is the shifting of State Security into the Presidency. The country’s intelligence machinery should not rest in the hands of the president - this centralising of power has never been a good idea.
Tonight’s reshuffle also should have been an opportunity to fire both Police Minister Bheki Cele and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo for their catastrophic failure to foresee, prevent and respond to the unrest and looting three weeks ago. The fact that Minister Cele stays in his post and Minister Dlodlo is simply shuffled off to Public Service shows that we are yet to see any accountability in the Executive.
Similarly it is puzzling how Minister David Mahlobo has managed to hold on to his job given the damning revelations at the Zondo Commission. Another Minister that should have been shuffled right out of cabinet is Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, and replaced with one who actually believes in renewable energy.
We regret the resignation of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and wish him well. The new Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, will have to demonstrate very quickly that he has the stomach for bold reforms and that he will not budge from fiscal responsibility. He will need to put a stake in the ground right away.
He should also start his term by clearing up the details of his resignation as Deputy Minister of Economic Development back in 2012 amid a massive fraud scandal. We need to know that our Finance Minister is beyond reproach, and for this we need his full disclosure.
What was missing from tonight’s announcement was a plan to reduce the size of our bloated cabinet, and also to do away with the deputy ministers, of which some departments have multiples. We still have one of the largest cabinets in the world, and arguably one of the least productive. Instead, President Ramaphosa announced an increase in size by splitting the portfolios of Water & Sanitation and Human Settlements.
What the president also should have announced - in the light of the mounting corruption scandals that have plagued his administration - is the implementation of lifestyle audits for the entire Executive.
And finally, President Ramaphosa must realise that cabinet reshuffles alone cannot fix the fundamental underlying problem of his government, which is a seeming unwillingness to adopt any meaningful economic reforms. The only kind of cabinet reshuffle that can fix this is the kind where the new ministers not only support real reforms, but are also give a mandate to implement such reforms.
The DA has said many times - and we will say it again now - that we will lend our support and our votes in the House to any meaningful economic, fiscal, labour and energy reforms that President Ramaphosa’s administration wants to pursue, but can’t because he doesn’t have the full backing of his own party. This will be far more effective than any late night cabinet reshuffle.
Statement issued by John Steenhuisen, DA leader, 5 August 2021
