Howard Barrell
President Thabo Mbeki plumped for continuity and party loyalty over performance in the first big decision of his presidency: the choice of his Cabinet.
He avoided any of the radical innovation urged on him by commentators, the business community and South Africa’s friends abroad, choosing by and large the old faces and mediocre talents that peopled the Cabinet of his predecessor, Nelson Mandela.
Two bright spots were the appointment of Kader Asmal to the key education portfolio and Patrick “Terror” Lekota’s entry to central government as defence minister.
Colin Bundy, vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, gave Asmal’s appointment the thumbs up. “Obviously he is someone who has spent his working life in education before taking political office. That is a basis for confidence. And the [high] marks he has received in the Mail & Guardian [annual ministerial scorecard], provide further basis for confidence.”
The promotion of the hard-working Ronnie Kasrils to a full ministry – that of water affairs and forestry, previously held by Asmal – from his previous position as deputy defence minister was also fitting reward.
The investor and business communities will also be relieved to see that Mbeki has decided to retain Trevor Manuel as minister of finance and Alec Erwin as minister of trade and industry. Both men have won the confidence of the markets and their presence in their current portfolios is seen as a test of the government’s determination to stick to its current economic course.
But the appointment of former sports minister Steve Tshwete as minister of safety and security has been roundly criticised. Tony Leon, leader of the opposition in Parliament, said Tshwete’s appointment showed the government was “not serious about fighting crime”. Tshwete succeeds Sydney Mufamadi, who was widely considered to have been inept in the portfolio.
Leon likened Dr Nkosazana Zuma’s appointment as minister of foreign affairs to “sending a bull into a china shop”.
“It shows we don’t care much about the image we project abroad,” he added.
As the previous minister of health, Dr Zuma was renowned for her combative, often undiplomatic style in conflict situations.
Mufamadi had been widely tipped for the foreign affairs portfolio. But Mbeki gave him the new portfolio of provincial and local government – an apparent demotion for a non-performer.
The appointment of Jeff Radebe, a senior member of the South African Communist Party, as minister of public enterprises – and so responsible for privatisation – will have sent mixed signals to local and foreign investors about the government’s seriousness about privatisation.
A number of South African economists argue that the use of privatisation revenues to reduce South Africa’s overall domestic debt is crucial to reducing current high interest rates and so to putting the economy on a growth path.
The appointment of Jacob Zuma as deputy president indicates the failure of a proposed deal between Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Mbeki under which Buthelezi would have got the deputy presidency in exchange for the African National Congress getting the premiership of KwaZulu-Natal, where support for the two parties is evenly spread.
Zuma is a long-standing ally of Mbeki’s within the ANC, going back to Swaziland in the mid-1970s, when Mbeki was ANC representative there, and Zuma was an underground ANC activist inside South Africa, running men and arms between the two countries.
In the late 1980s, Zuma, as head of ANC intelligence, was Mbeki’s key ally in the difficult process of steering the ANC towards a negotiated settlement in South Africa and abandonment of the armed struggle.
Buthelezi stays on as minister of home affairs, depriving Lindiwe Sisulu, his deputy, of what many saw as well-deserved promotion to the top job.
Nkosazana Zuma, Jacob Zuma’s former wife, has been replaced at health by Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, formerly deputy minister of justice.
Tshabalala-Msimang has a strong background in health. She has a masters degree in public health, a diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology and a medical degree awarded in Russia. Many had expected to see her in the health ministry earlier.
The retention of Stella Sigcau, formerly minister of public enterprises, in the Cabinet can be explained only by the political position she occupies in the Transkei. A Xhosa princess, Sigcau is being kept on – this time as minister of public works – only as a counterweight to Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the United Democratic Movement, which won 14 seats in the general election on June 2.
ANC sources say that sacking Sigcau from the Cabinet – even if her talents are dubious – would be tantamount to giving the Transkei to the UDM.
Essop Pahad, formerly deputy minister to Mbeki when he was deputy president and one of Mbeki’s closest allies and friends, gets promotion to ministerial rank and becomes minister in the Office of the President. This puts him in charge of what will be a highly centralised operation, almost imperial in character, with more than 300 officials operating directly within it.
Eyebrows have been raised at Dullah Omar’s shift from being minister of justice to minister of transport. His replacement at justice, Penuell Maduna, seemed out of his depth at mineral and energy affairs. Maduna had several lapses in judgment in the appointment of advisers, and clashed frequently with his top civil servants.
The make-up of the Cabinet represents a fair balance of various tendencies within the ANC. The SACP is well represented by Erwin, Geraldine Fraser-Moeleketi, Kasrils, Mufamadi, Pahad and Radebe – all, however, members of the faction of the SACP aligned to Mbeki.