Women fill half of positions in Cyril Ramaphosa’s new cabinet in rejig that critics call ‘evolution, not revolution’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a slimmed-down South African government, with women filling exactly half his cabinet positions.

The recently re-elected president’s selection of ministers will be closely scrutinised as a sign of his willingness to take on factions within his ruling African National Congress party that fiercely oppose his leadership.

Richard Calland, a political analyst and law professor, said the new cabinet showed an “incremental” approach that would disappoint those hoping for swift and dramatic action to launch South Africa on a new trajectory. “It’s evolution, not revolution, and very typical of Ramaphosa as a political manager. A statement of reformist intent, if not necessarily reformist action,” Calland said.

Ramaphosa led the ruling ANC to victory in this month’s election. Its score of 57.5% was the ANC’s weakest showing at the ballot box since taking power at elections in 1994 at the end of the racist apartheid regime.

Many voters have been alienated by repeated corruption scandals during the administration of the former president, Jacob Zuma, who was ousted by Ramaphosa last year.

Unemployment also remains high, the economy grew just 0.8% in 2018, and rolling national power outages have underlined the poor state of national infrastructure. Violent crime is a serious problem, with poor people most likely to be victims.

Announcing the 28 ministers, down from 36, Ramaphosa said his priority had been “revitalising our economy and exercising great care in the use of public funds”. He said: “Ministers should be hardworking, capable and have integrity … The expectations of South Africa people have never gone higher.”

Ralph Mathekga, an analyst and author, said the cabinet included too many of the “same old people”. “It’s not entirely a new broom. There is not a lot of experimentation. It’s a safe cabinet based on a political compromise within the ANC.”

At his inauguration as president for a full five-year term last weekend, Ramaphosa promised a “new dawn” as he urged South Africans to end poverty in a generation.

A protege of Nelson Mandela, Ramaphosa is seen by many as having the potential to clean up both the government and the ruling party’s reputation. Without him, the ANC likely would have received just 40% of the vote in this month’s elections, Fikile Mbalula, a senior party official, said. Mbalula was appointed transport minister on Wednesday night.

Two controversial appointments were David Mabuza, a powerful ANC politician who faced a party anti-graft board last week, who becomes deputy president, and Pravin Gordhan as minister for public enterprise.

Reformist supporters of Ramaphosa had hoped that he would sideline Mabuza, who faces multiple accusations of wrongdoing. Hardliners and the far left had made clear their opposition to the appointment of Gordhan, a veteran of the struggle against the apartheid regime and a driving force behind ongoing anti-graft investigations. “[Gordhan’s appointment] is important politically,” said Calland.

Opposition politicians described the appointments as “a change of actors performing to the same script”. “We needed a reset and reform agenda. A cabinet of the future … A factional war won. South Africa needs change!,” said Mmusi Maimane, leader of the centre-right Democratic Alliance.