Can someone explain to me why South Africa needs 31 Cabinet ministers? According to The Times, Jacob Zuma is planning to enlarge the Cabinet from 28 to 31, plus 19 deputy ministers. That would make South Africa’s Cabinet, as far as I could ascertain, the largest in the world.
The UK has 22 cabinet ministers; France, a country synonymous with bureaucracy, needs only 16. India, with a population 25 times ours and developmental problems as huge, has 30; Nigeria makes do with 23. And we need 31, plus 19 deputy ministers to tie their bootlaces? You’ve got to be kidding me.
The idea, Zuma said at a media briefing on the eve of the election, is to make Cabinet “more effective and efficient”.
“The incoming administration will make changes to certain Cabinet portfolios based on the experience of 15 years in government and the priorities for the five years ahead,” The Times quoted him as saying. “We know that our people have greater expectations as the ANC campaign message has captured their imagination. They will expect faster action and visible change in their lives.”
The Times bills this “Zuma’s plan for South Africa”. But is it about the needs of the country, or about the need to reward loyal comrades? Among those to be given Cabinet positions are Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande, Women’s League president Angie Motshekga and ANC MP Enoch Godongwana, according to The Times. None of them brings any particular experience or qualifications to the job (not that those are necessarily prerequisites for Cabinet service), except that they are staunch Zuma supporters. I don’t want to sound cynical, but it seems to be payback time.
I mean, do we really need three deputy ministers of foreign affairs? One, according to The Times, will be responsible for Africa; another for multilateral institutions; the third for a “military skills development programme”. What is left for the minister to do? And a deputy minister for youth affairs? Julius Malema needs that job more than South Africa.
It may be that Zuma can make a coherent case for enlarging the Cabinet, and convince me that a larger executive improves efficiency. But what concerns me is the potential wastage. Nobody, as far as I know, has calculated what the phalanxes of executive mayors, MECs, provincial premiers, Cabinet ministers and their deputies, are costing the country in financial terms. I am not an ideological opponent of big government; in developing countries, a large public sector is necessary. But can we afford such a big executive?
It is true that the government has a problem with delivery. And the ANC has promised a lot in this election campaign. But appointing more ministers will not solve the problem. Firing a few may.
(A version of this post also ran on my personal blog.)
No.
But if we were going to have a big cabinet and it worked better, that would be fine.
Unfortunately the Zuma people don’t seem well-chosen, by and large. I wouldn’t say there’s been a hefty administrative improvement since last September.
One could say micro-management is what SA needs now to solve the current quagmire we currently find ourselves in. The cynic might say the gravy train just became longer. The realist might say, everybody wants a blue light now…
I like your understatement, MFB! The only area were I can see any improvement is Health. DWAF is as deaf as ever and so is DEAT. Safety and Security is long on words and lsow on action.
The answer is pretty straightforward, really. As Zuma is quoted as saying earlier, it is to make Cabinet “more effective and efficient”.
A more effective and efficient vehicle for mates and cronies to loot the state coffers, that is.
Its to make your Cabinet more efficient and effective. With 31 Cabinet Ministers it will be the most efficient and effective Cabinet in the world.
Apparently you guys already have the best Constitution in the world, and also the best finance minister in the world. So its just a matter of putting the final high polish, the deep lustre, on to this already impressive machinery.
A reader informs me that Kenya has more Cabinet ministers: 40, plus 50-odd assistant ministers (for a country of 31 million citizens). The mind boggles.
If you have no business experience nor have run or managed any meaningful enterprise then it makes sense.
Jobs for pals – and more people to pass the buck to when things don’t work. Maybe some taxi drivers made redundant by the Integrated Transport thingie can get jobs driving the increased number of “blue light” vehicles needed.
Oh dear Robert, this all sounds a little bit racist to me….darkies can’t be trusted to run a country and all that sort of post colonial stuff. And I thought you were such a nice young man!!!!
Lots of dull fatcats want to have lots of gravy.
Don’t be silly – it is payback time – pals need jobs.
You left out Zimbabwe, which now apparently has about 47 members (including deputy prime ministers, presidents, and provincial governors).
Though there are another about 3 “Ministers without portfolio” or “Ministers for National Healing” who may or may not be also on it.
There are also about 17-20 “Deputy Ministers” (Not including Bennett who Mugabe refuses to swear in, since he’s in charge of the MDC members.)
So if Zuma starts appointing “Ministers without Portfolio” and Special Ministers, you will know he’s taking advice from ZANU about how to reward political cronies for their loyalty with made up jobs paid for by public money.
(And dont leave out Kenya, where the “unity” govt has 40 ministers and 52 assistants, costing about 13 million a year in saleries alone, let alone allowances, security, offices and cars.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7352261.stm
Alas, we’re not the biggest. A reader informs me that Kenya has 40 Cabinet ministers, and about 50 deputies (for a population of 31 million). Now that is truly impressive.
@Robert – maybe that is due to the coallition government duplicating positions to keen the other side honest.
Agree that 31 is overkill – for starters it will be impossible to get anything accomplished at full cabinet meetings with so many egos to air
Dear David – we all have our failings, but being a nice young man has never been one of mine.
David Bullard on April 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
cheeky, considering you’ve obviously sold your pen to the highest bidder
People relax u just stressing yourselves over speculation. Thats the problem with this country.
Don’t brew a storm in a tea cup buddy. It’s just four more than we had the last time. Remember that deputy ministers are not members of Cabinet.
And it is true that we do need to make our cabinet more efficient and effective. Look, we have a lot of challenges and backlogs in this country and more manpower is welcome. It simply says to me that the new administration is serious about delivery, and know that the policy honeymoon is over. You need this if you are going to implement these policies.
It’s really not that difficult to understand.
You can only judge an administration by who’s in. And see, if there is actual commitment to actually execute the program with which they were voted in office.
Now, if Manto makes it to the Cabinet, I do wonder what her husband actually knows …
amandzing
For once I agree with you. David Bullard sold out.
And he sold out Zapiro.
Yes whether it be by number or by weight, we surely have one of the largest Cabinets around.
@ geejay
that could change if Balfour & Stofile are not re-appointed, but I cant see too many of our cabinet (present or future) at a Weighless convention.
Somebody should tackle this man and ask him HOW the cabinet will be more efficient and effective with more people on board? Saying it’ll be effective and effecient is not enough. We need to assess whether he’s applied his mind, or the ANC for that matter. At this stage I place zero credence in the remark ‘more efficient and effective’ simply because it hasn’t been qualified with valid reasons.
I’m not sure of any democracy that doesn’t involve cabinet reshuffles consistent with alignment towards the premier (Gordon Brown did it: see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6247502.stm). Jacob Zuma is emulating Western democracies in doing this, which should be to his credit. It’s just a pity there is ALSO a gravy train point to be made …
But let’s not compare apples to oranges. You can’t in one breath say the Cabinet is the largest in Africa (a point subsequently conceded as inaccurate) and, in the next, question the need for three deputy ministers for foreign affairs. Seen that way, the Governments are always larger than Cabinets and the comparison should be with the British, French and Indian governments.
The UK Government, for example, contains ministers, secretaries of state, junior ministers, parliamentary under secretaries of state, etc. (again reshuffled from time to time): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6255914.stm
The general rule-of-thumb in business is 1 supervisor/manager for every 6 people. One can stretch that to maybe 10-12 for government. Very few company presidents/CEOs have more than 8 VPs. I guess the cronyism in SA is reflected in the management heavy – delivery light structure of our govt. This give rise to lots of planning and discussion, but poor implementation & delivery.
The provinces are not much better. The best the DA could do is to make the WC govt more delivery focuesed by saving money on management salaries and employing more service delivery personnel.
Hi Robert. I’m putting together biogs of all the new cabinet members and found that Angie Motshekga, besides being the former Gauteng education MEC also holds a BA Education, B Ed from the University of the North and a Masters Degree in Education from Wits University. She has also published and conducted research in education, women’s development and language studies.
I’m not a huge fan of hers personally but don’t you think in light of the above your statements regarding her are a little unfair? I quote:
“Among those to be given Cabinet positions are Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande, Women’s League president Angie Motshekga and ANC MP Enoch Godongwana, according to The Times. None of them brings any particular experience or qualifications to the job (not that those are necessarily prerequisites for Cabinet service), except that they are staunch Zuma supporters. I don’t want to sound cynical, but it seems to be payback time.”
Hi Verashni – thanks for pointing that out – but at the time of writing the post I didn’t know she was going to be given the education ministry. She is obviously suited for the position by virtue of her academic qualifications, though her performance as Gauteng MEC for education was not particularly successful, and not uncontroversial either.
Yes the plan is quite scary. I mean We are the Proud South Africans with our new president. It is of no use that we start putting judgment now, even before the mistakes are made. It’s only a plan and we can see the risk; but nobody ever said risks are forbidden if we are so keen for a better change.
However, the big Cabinet is problematic because South Africa is not that rich to pay so many MECs. President touched on that issue when he was addressing the nation on Wednesday. Zwelinzima Vavi also spoke about South Africa being on the economical crisis when it comes to fulfilling the promises made by the ANC (He was scratching his head when he said that,).
That may give us the idea as well, that they start complaining about low economy now, because they want to save more money for themselves not for the country.
We should be careful.