Cartoon by Carlos.
President Cyril Ramaphosa — and the leader of every other party that contested the 29 May elections — went on the campaign trail vowing to reduce the number of ministers in South Africa’s historically overpopulated cabinet.
Before the elections, Ramaphosa promised to cull his “bloated” cabinet, which then consisted of 30 ministers and 36 deputies, while Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen pushed the party’s Vision 2029, which speaks of a pared-down, 15-member national executive.
But the ANC’s failure to secure 50%+1 in the national and provincial poll forced an about-turn by Ramaphosa, who added two ministers and seven deputies to his cabinet to accommodate leaders of the parties he brought into his government of national unity (GNU).
The demands for “quality” portfolios from the DA, and the need to make room for the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the Good party, meant more cabinet seats rather than fewer.
The national executive now consists of a staggering 75 members — 32 ministers and 43 deputies — the most in South Africa’s history, which we now know will cost R239 million a year (exclusive of perks).
This amounts to a cumulative cost of more than R1 billion (before benefits) to the taxpayer, should the GNU cabinet complete its five-year term.
Unsurprisingly, not one of the parties that has benefited from the ANC’s loss of its national majority — and from Ramaphosa’s back-to-the-wall largesse — has complained about the size or cost of the cabinet.
Neither have any of the new ministers spoken of a “bloated” civil service since joining government, where the reality of unfilled critical posts and the need to replace skilled staff leaving the system to deliver services appears to have swiftly hit home across portfolios.
That job has been left to ActionSA, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other opposition parties who either rejected Ramaphosa’s offer to join his unity government or set his removal from office as a condition for their involvement.
Lines redrawn
The former opposition parties’ stance on reducing the size of government was not the only “line in the sand” that was eventually redrawn during the negotiations regarding the composition of the GNU cabinet.
The talks began with the DA refusing to join a government that included Gayton McKenzie’s PA — or ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile. The DA also initially eyed Mashatile’s position for itself, arguing that its share of the vote entitled it to the deputy’s post.
These pre-conditions were swiftly dropped after it became clear that the PA was already on board and that the issue of the ANC deputy presidency was a non-negotiable.
The inclusion of the IFP did not prove to be difficult, once agreement had been reached with the DA and the ANC to constitute a government of provincial unity in KwaZulu-Natal with its candidate, Thami Ntuli, as premier.
Demands for Ramaphosa’s removal during the early part of June resulted in the exclusion of the EFF and the MK party — both of which the DA had refused to work with — again easing its decision to participate in the unity government.
A common commitment to constitutionalism was identified as the precondition for participation in the GNU, while the areas of commonality in their election manifestos were to be synthesised into their framework agreement or statement of intent.
Red-line issues, including the National Health Insurance, the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act — then still a Bill — the scrapping of broad-based black economic empowerment and minimum wage laws were placed in abeyance by the DA.
The government’s existing Operation Vulindlela — which includes the unbundling of Eskom, ports concessioning and mineral rights reform — was identified as being acceptable and implementable by all parties.
From there, negotiations moved to the detail of allocation of cabinet seats and the interpretation of the formula by which they would be allocated.
Ten days of back-and-forth between the ANC and the DA ensued over the allocation of portfolios, with the former official opposition’s negotiators demanding 12 cabinet seats and control of at least one ministry in the economic cluster.
On 22 June, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula offered the DA six ministerial and seven deputy minister posts, but this was rejected by its federal chairperson, Helen Zille, whose letter was leaked to the media.
In his letter to Zille, Mbalula emphasised the ANC’s commitment to forming a unity government based on “genuine inclusiveness” and “advancing the national interest”, in line with the statement of intent.
Mbalula said the offer was based on “a fair and reasonable manner of determining the number of positions in cabinet that each party would be appointed” in accordance with clause 16 of the statement of intent.
He then added “critical positions in the leadership of parliament”, including the deputy chair of the National Council of Provinces and other portfolios, to sweeten the deal, while reminding the DA that other parties had already signed up.
In response, Zille said the DA’s interpretation of the formula was correct and that it was “obvious” that the distribution of parties “can only start with a consideration of the relative electoral size of the parties participating in government.”
“Governments, by definition, are made up of parties participating in government. They are not made up of parties in opposition — that is what parliament is for,” Zille wrote.
She said it was “only fair and reasonable” for the DA to be represented across all cabinet clusters, including mineral resources and energy, transport and trade and industry, and that it chose which of its MPs serve in the cabinet.
Zille also requested that existing directors general be removed in the ministries that would be led by DA members.
Two days later Ramaphosa drew his own line in the sand and used his weekly newsletter to call on parties not to allow wrangling over positions to derail the process and reminded them that “South Africans are watching”.
“We should not waste our energies on those who stand in the way of our country’s progress or lose momentum over differences that can be resolved,” the president wrote.
“South Africans made it clear with their votes in last month’s elections that they want their elected representatives to put aside narrow interests and work together to build the country. To do so, the GNU cannot be preoccupied with jockeying for positions, tussles over appointments or squabbles within and between parties.
“The success of the GNU will be measured by the extent to which we are prepared to focus not on who will govern, but on how we will govern, together.”
An exchange of letters between Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen followed and the two leader then
met to resolve the impasse, eventually clearing the way for the president to begin putting together a new unity cabinet, which he named on 1 July.
Ramaphosa’s 10-party government has proved the sceptics wrong and has held together despite the large number of participants and their widely divergent political views.
The tension between the DA and the ANC over the Bela Act and other issues that existed before the formation of the coalition — including the SABC Bill — have been the greatest stressors on Ramaphosa’s administration.
There are also differences over foreign policy; the DA has accused the ANC of wanting to dominate, rather than allowing expression to the stances of other members of the GNU, itself in particular.
The rest of the parties appear to either have fewer policy differences with the ANC or have found it easier to work with the party in the cabinet — or have kept matters in-house when they do, rather than taking them to the media.
Matters came to a head over the Bela Bill in September, when Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube boycotted the ceremony at which the president signed it into law, while announcing a three-month delay in implementing two contentious clauses to allow the parties to “find each other”.
The move both annoyed the president and placed him under pressure to fire Gwarube.
But he referred the matter to the cabinet clearing house, set up in the same month to create a forum for discussion and resolution of disagreements on policy issues.
Gwarube increased the tensions ahead of the 13 December deadline by signing a bilateral agreement with trade union Solidarity, stating that the clauses would not be implemented, which sparked fresh calls for her to be removed.
But the matter remained with the clearing house. An agreement has been reached that the clauses will be implemented, but that the concerns of the parties will be addressed in the enabling regulations that will be promulgated to fully implement the new law.
The coalition government has also prevented issues at local and provincial level from polluting its discussions, although the removal of DA Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink by the ANC has seen Zille rule out backing the party in eThekwini in response.
The collapse of talks between the DA and the ANC in Gauteng was also not allowed to affect the national coalition discussions, nor have poor relations between the parties in the province interfered with the functioning of the unity government.