Opposition parties have slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for increasing his Cabinet by two additional ministries despite his promises to reduce the size of the executive.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the appointment of Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Maropene Ramakgopa would add an additional R74 million to the public wage bill.
“It is simply unfathomable that the president can push this cost onto the South African taxpayer while the nation languishes under sluggish economic growth, the highest unemployment rate in recent history, and an electricity crisis that is shedding jobs at record numbers,” Steenhuisen said.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said it was expected of Ramaphosa to reward comrades with jobs as he needed to manage competing factions within his party.
“What we have witnessed is just a continuation of his super-bloated, mega Cabinet and the ongoing centralisation of power.”
Steenhuisen noted that there was no announcement of performance agreements, targets or tangible outcomes and timelines for the two new ministries in the presidency.
This oversight, he said, would make it impossible to gauge the performance of the newcomers.
The DA leader also took a swipe at Ramaphosa for retaining some ministers, he claimed, had performed poorly in their portfolios.
These included Police Minister Bheki Cele and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.
“In each of these portfolios, South Africa’s metrics have only gone backwards due to non-performance and corruption,” Steenhuisen said.
However, the ANC has welcomed the reshuffle. National spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the introduction of the new ministries were testament to the ANC’s commitment to urgently address the electricity crisis while ushering in an era of greater accountability and performance.
“The ANC will also ensure that all its deployees are held accountable ► as they are expected to act with speed in the execution of their roles,” she added.”