Charles Molele
ANC Deputy President David Mabuza was sworn in on Tuesday at the Sefako Makgatho presidential guest house in Pretoria, ending days of speculation on who will be South Africa’s number two.
Mabuza’s swearing-in was presided over by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, and attended by National Assembly Speaker, Thandi Modise, and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Mabuza’s decision to postpone his swearing-in in Parliament last week sent shock waves within and outside the governing party.
The postponement also derailed the announcement of the new Cabinet, which, according to tradition, was supposed to have happened a day or thereabout after the inauguration; the Constitution allows the president to appoint his Cabinet within five days after his inauguration.
Ramaphosa is expected to announce his Cabinet on Wednesday or sometime later in the week.
A senior ANC leader said on Tuesday the top six officials were taken aback when Mabuza informed them about his decision to postpone his swearing-in few hours before the 400-designated MPs took their oath of office in Parliament.
According to ANC senior leaders, who spoke to Inside Politic on condition of anonymity, the political strategy behind Mabuza’s decision last week is aimed at making him appear in public as a leader with honesty, integrity and beyond reproach.
According to these leaders, Mabuza is said to have naked ambition to be president at all costs. He is also said to be eyeing the most powerful position in the country in case Ramaphosa is forced to leave before the end of his term.
“He [Mabuza] is very much aware that there’s a pending case against President Ramaphosa by the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. If the Public Protector finds Ramaphosa to have lied to Parliament about the R500,000 donation by Bosasa to fund his ANC presidential campaign, Mabuza believes he will be in pole position to take over the reigns as President of the Republic of SA,” said an ANC leader.
“But it is not going to be as easy as that. This will mean that the ANC will have to call a special national general council to discuss the matter. But the difficulty about this is that the Constitution of the ANC is very clear that the president of the party must be the president of the country.”
Government and ANC insiders also told Inside Politic on Tuesday that the delay in announcing the Cabinet has also affected provinces like Gauteng.
There has been behind-the-scenes talk to have former Johannesburg executive mayor and provincial treasurer Parks Tau move to Ramaphosa’s Cabinet because of his experience as chairperson of the SA Local Government Association (SALGA).
Tau, a close ally of Gauteng Premier David Makhura, was tipped to take over as MEC for Finance after the departure of Barbara Creecy, who is likely to make it into Ramaphosa’s new and slim Cabinet.
Creecy is currently the ANC’s national executive committee member and was sworn-in as a Member of Parliament last week.
The government and ANC insiders also confirmed that a meeting on the reconfiguration of the Cabinet has also taken place.
Ramaphosa is understood to have used consultants and a report from the Department of Public Service and Administration to reconfigure his reduced Cabinet. The president has also consulted widely within the ANC-led alliance on the first-ever reconfiguration of Cabinet since 1994.
Inside Politic also understands that Ramaphosa’s reconfigured and reduced Cabinet composition will be based on the government models from countries such as Botswana, Kenya, New Zealand and Canada, which have between 15 and 25 ministries.
“It [Ramaphosa’s new Cabinet] is likely to have between 20 and 25. It won’t go above 25. Our reconfiguration strategy was modelled on the governments of Botswana, Kenya, New Zealand and Canada. We look at the population size of the country and the size of their departments,” said a government insider.
The government insider said departments such as Treasury, Defence, Police, Home Affairs, Education and Health were likely to remain as they are in terms of the Constitution.
“These ones can’t be touched,” said the official.
Departments that are likely to be merged into a single department are Economic Development, Small Business Development and the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, on the other hand, was likely to be moved to the Department of Public Service & Administration, or vice versa.
There has been a strong argument for the Department of Women to be merged with the Social Development Department. Others within the governing party have strongly argued that the Rural Development, Agriculture and Environmental Affairs should be merged into one.
“The department of women might go to Social Development. When it was a directorate, it was more effective than it is at the moment,” said the government insider.
He said senior government officials had appealed to the President “to avoid duplication of functions and resources”.
The reconfiguration of government departments has triggered fear among senior officials such as Directors-General.
The bureaucrats were particularly worried and concerned about their future in the public service, some having spent over 24 years as administrators in government.
The senior government official said Ramaphosa is facing the most difficult time as he tries to balance the interests of various groupings within the governing party.
“The stakes are very high. You are going to render some ministers redundant. Appointments are narrower and therefore contestation is higher,” said the government insider.
He said some directors general would be co-opted into the merged departments until their contracts came to an end.
“Some DGs’ contracts will be allowed natural attrition until the end of the term in order to allow them to do what they have been contracted to do. The whole process will require a great deal of work. But we are all hoping for the best outcome. There are people who have been in the public service for more than 24 years. We have to retain the institutional memory.
Soon after announcing his cabinet, Ramaphosa will present his bold plans to the ANC NEC Lekgotla for discussion at the weekend. Decisions taken at the Lekgotla would then form part of Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, provisionally scheduled to take place in Parliament on Thursday June 20th.
Additional reporting Matuma Letsoalo
