Cape Town — With President Cyril Ramaphosa having announced the new cabinet for the Government of National Unity (GNU), questions have been raised over its size.
On Sunday, Ramaphosa revealed a cabinet consisting of 32 ministers and 43 deputies, following intense negotiations among all parties in the GNU.
Despite many calls for him to reduce the cabinet’s size going into the seventh administration, the president instead unveiled an oversized cabinet.
The total of 75 ministers makes it one of the largest national executives in democratic history and the African National Congress (ANC) has defended the decision for the large cabinet and said the election results show that voters want different parties to govern together, EWN reported.
“That increase [of Cabinet] is marginal in the context of the need to provide a balanced and reflective national executive that caters to the outcomes of the elections. So, the ANC acknowledges the President had to take this difficult position, in the interest of forging political progress and co-operation that is in the interest of the people,” ANC interim spokesperson, Zuko Godlimpi, said.
The ANC welcomes the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the appointment of the ANC-led Government of National Unity (#GNU). #LetsDoMoreTogether pic.twitter.com/41dpNkgaBC
— African National Congress (@MYANC) June 30, 2024
Ramaphosa said there was a need to ensure the majority of parties signed to the ANC’s Government of National Unity (GNU) were represented in the executive and was therefore unable to reduce his cabinet size.
“In the course of the sixth adminstration, I indicated my intention to reduce the number of portfolios in the national exectutive. However, due to the need to ensure that the national executive to include all the parties that are part of the GNU, this has not been possible. In some instances, we have considered it necessary to separate certain portfolios to ensure that there is sufficient focus on key issues,” he said.
Ramaphosa announced that the Electricity and Enegry ministries were now merged, while separating the Ministry of Mineral and Petroleum Resources. The Ministry of Agriculture will be separated from the ministry of Land Reform and Rural Development while the Ministry of Higher Education will now be separated from Science, Technology and Innovation.
[WATCH] President Cyril Ramaphosa says he was unable to reduce his Cabinet but had to expand it to accommodate the number of parties in the GNU.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/xM1PgnxRIk
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) June 30, 2024
Full list of #Cabinet Ministers #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/0msjMaAU9e
— Prabashini Naicker (@bashini_naicker) June 30, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
