President Ramaphosa's Cabinet - At Last! Almost a clean break from the Zuma Era.

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 29 May 2019 by Iraj Abedian

President Ramaphosa finally managed to announce his cabinet ministers after a few days of delays, and even this evening a further 50 minutes delay from the announced 20h30 media briefing - all indicating the rough and hard path that Ramaphosa has had to tread to get here. It is common knowledge that ANC is riddled with internal fractures and conflicts. These in turn make the task of composing a cabinet so much harder. He had further committed himself to introducing a cabinet mix distinct from the past, operating within a totally different framework.In his announcement, Ramaphosa emphasized the criteria he used in composing his cabinet, namely a reconfigured and more efficient combination of ministeries, appropriate for a modern developmental state fit for purpose in dealing with socio-economic challenges. The upshot was a reduction in number of ministers from 36 to 28; and further trimmings will be effected over time. Nearly all of these reductions amounted to a roll back of the expansions that were introduced during the Zuma presidency. For the key portolios of Finance and Public Enterprises, Ramaphosa has retained Tito Mboweni and Pravin Gordhan in their respective positions. There is a new Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr David Masondo who brings with him a good many years of experience in business and automative industry. In this regard, it appears that Ramaphosa has stood his ground in these appointments. In the run up to today, COSATU had expressed misgivings about the re-appointment of Tito Mboweni as the Minister of Finance, and the EFF had openly and vigorously campaigned against the re-appointment of Pravin Gordhan as Minister of Public Enterprises. Overall, th...

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