GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
6 March 2023
President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to take the bull by the horns, choosing to retain under-performing and corruption-implicated individuals in his re-shuffled Cabinet.
Many South Africans, who were deeply hopeful for signs of a substantial reconfiguration that would signal the President’s commitment to the fundamental transformation that South Africa desperately needs, will go to bed disappointed tonight.
They will feel, with some justification, that the President has put his own, and his party’s interests, above those of the people of the country.
The appointment of Kgosientso Ramokgopa as South Africa’s first Minister of Electricity is intriguing. Highly regarded in the public and private sectors, he has the unenviable task of being appointed to fix a crisis in a crowded space already occupied by the Ministers of Energy and Public Enterprises.
It is ultimately the President himself who will be held accountable for Eskom’s failures should loadshedding not be brought under control this year. The President and his party, the ruling ANC, which will face unprecedented challenges when the county goes to the polls next year.
The establishment of a second new ministry, for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, under new Minister, Maropene Ramokgopa, is potentially positive, as the State has fundamentally battled to implement its policies.
It would be nice to think that the new Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga, will make a better fist of this critical position than her many recent predecessors, but by the time Chikunga settles into the position next year’s election will already be upon us.
It is regrettable that the President has neither trimmed the size of the executive, as he promised to do when elected four years ago, nor taken the opportunity to significantly reduce the average age of the structure by removing old wood and injecting more young people.
*GOOD Leader Patricia de Lille, who accepted the President’s request to serve her country in 2019, in the tradition of an opposition member in the cabinet, and has proved an exemplary Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, shifts to the crucial Tourism portfolio.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za