OWN CORESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.30pm.
REACTION to the Cabinet announced by President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday was mostly positive, although certain appointments drew criticism from opposition parties.
The leader of the official opposition in Parliament, Tony Leon, said Mbeki had missed a golden opportunity to make some inspired, imaginative and quality appointments to the Cabinet.
“Clearly what President Mbeki has gone for is ANC unity above the resolution of the country’s crises. The Cabinet is bloated and lacks talent,” Leon said.
Leon said the DP did not think new Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma had the necessary diplomacy, tact and competence to be effective in that portfolio.
He said Penuell Maduna’s appointment as Justice Minister defied belief, and that Steve Tshwete’s appointment as Safety and Security minister was “deeply disappointing”.
The appointment of former Water Affairs Minister Kader Asmal as Education Minister was “an inspired one”.
New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the new Cabinet was a mixture of good and questionable appointments.
He praised Jacob Zuma’s appointment as Deputy President, Asmal’s transfer to the Education portfolio and the continuity with the finance portfolios.
On the negative side, the appointment of former Sports Minister Tshwete to the Safety and Security portfolio and former Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma to Foreign Affairs had to be singled out, the NNP leader said.
The Director of the SA Institute for International Affairs, Dr Greg Mills, said Nkosazana Zuma’s appointment would probably send out a message to Africa and the world that South Africa was bent on continuing an independent approach to its foreign relations.
Business Against Crime’s John Pemberthy welcomed Tshwete’s appointment, saying he looked forward to an era of a business-like approach to the Safety and Security portfolio.
The country’s largest business organisation, the South African Chamber of Business, said the new Cabinet seemed more merit-based and would accommodate the new government’s focus on policy implementation and the speeding up of the delivery of a better quality of life for all.