MALAIKA MAHLATSI: On bloated cabinets – South Africa’s Executive Barometer 1994-2024

On Sunday evening 30^vol June 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the nominations of his cabinet and deputy ministers.

The announcement follows weeks of tense negotiations between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), which are part of the Government of National Unity (GNU) formed after a landmark general election in which the ANC lost its majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy in South Africa.

A few days before the announcement of the cabinet composition, as the chairwoman of the DA federal council, Helen Zille, admitted, the negotiations came dangerously close to a breakdown.

This was partly due to the DA’s intolerable demands, which sought to undermine GNU and the very laws of the land. After much discussion, the GNU board was finally terminated, and its announcement was welcomed, if only for the uncertainty it removed in the marketplace.

However, many analysts and political leaders, such as ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba, have raised concerns about the persistence of a bloated cabinet and national executive.

In his address to the nation, Ramaphosa addressed the issue of a bloated executive, stating that prevailing political conditions required him to increase the size of the executive to accommodate GNU members and ensure equitable representation.

Executive power is vested in a president, a vice-president, 32 ministers, and 45 deputy ministers. In terms of party breakdown, the ANC has 20 ministers and 35 deputy ministers; the DA has ministers and 6 deputy ministers; the IFP has two ministers and an equal number of deputy ministers; the Freedom Front Plus, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, GOOD, and the Patriotic Alliance have one minister each; and the United Democratic Movement and Al Jama-ah have one deputy minister each.

Both President Ramaphosa and Vice President Paul Mashatile are with the ANC. The GNU represents nine of the ten parties that are currently in the GNU. Rise Mzansi, which won two seats in the National Assembly, joined GNU 22^II June. However, it is not represented in the government and does not have a deputy minister.

The size of the management staff in 7^t administration is one of the largest in the world. In fact, South Africa has one of the largest cabinets in the world relative to the size of its population.

Even Britain, which has one of the largest cabinets in the developed world, with 31 ministers in total, has less executive power, despite having about 7 million more people than we do.

Countries like Germany, Europe’s largest economy and a country of just over 83 million people, more than 20 million more than South Africa, have a cabinet of just 16 federal ministers and a chancellor.

Interestingly, the German cabinet is also a coalition not very different from the GNU, consisting of ministers from the three dominant parties, i.e. the Social Democratic Party (SDU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens.

South Africa’s executive has been growing since Nelson Mandela’s first democratic administration in 1994. The executive, which was also the GNU, consisted of the president, two vice-presidents and 27 ministers, including Jay Naidoo, who served as minister without the portfolio.

It had 13 deputy ministers. At the end of the term, in 1999, only one deputy minister remained. The Ministry of Lands and the Ministry of Agriculture were merged, and the Ministry of General Affairs was abolished. Naidoo’s term also ended in 1996.

Mbeki’s first administration, from 1999 to 2004, had one president and one vice-president. There were 28 ministers – a small increase from the previous administration. His second administration, from 2004 to his resignation in 2008, had 26 ministers and only 10 deputy ministers. The next administration, under Kgalema Motlanthe, lasted just over a year. It also had 28 ministers, but the number of deputy ministers increased from 10 to 19.

A significant increase in national executive power occurred under President Jacob Zuma. His first cabinet, from 2009 to 2014, included a total of 34 ministers. The executive branch had 28 deputy ministers – an increase of 9 compared to the previous administration. There were 35 ministers in Zuma’s second administration, from 2014 until his resignation in 2018. The number of deputy ministers increased by 11 to 39.

Ramaphosa, who has promised to reduce his Cabinet, began his term in 2018 with 33 ministers. His second director, created in 2019 and dissolved on 19^vol June 2024, which included 30 ministers. This was largely due to the merger of various portfolios, which reduced the number of portfolios from 36 to 28.

Despite the reduction in portfolios, the number of deputy ministers in the sixth administration has increased to 34. In the recently announced GNU there are 11 more deputy ministers. This is in line with the 11 portfolios which now have two deputy ministers.

The responsibilities of these committees include: Cooperation on Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Defense and Military Veterans, Higher Education, Police, Presidency, Water and Sanitation, and several others.

Several factors account for the rise in the number of directors in South Africa. The most obvious is the rise in political clientelism, which began under Zuma and has continued under Ramaphosa.

Political clientelism actually involves rewarding political allies through cabinet and deputy ministerial portfolios. This is intended to isolate political leaders from opposing factions, especially within their own organizations.

Under Zuma, factionalism in the ANC took root, setting parameters for isolating mainly Mbeki supporters and increasing political clientelism. Under Ramaphosa, who initially had to isolate himself from the once-powerful Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction, the same political clientelism continued.

The second factor that accounts for the rise in executives is South Africa’s growing population. In 1994, the population was 43 million. As of 2024, the population has grown to just over 61 million. While this is a factor, it is not significant, especially when compared to larger populations around the world.

The third factor influencing the growing managerial workforce is an increasingly sophisticated society and economy that requires the development of skills and expertise in what many call a post-productivist economy.

Some of the Cabinet portfolios are new and respond to changing times. However, there is a legitimate question as to whether appointing ministers and deputy ministers to such portfolios, rather than increasing the capacity and human capital of the administration, is the best approach.

The second part of this article will examine the cabinets of some key countries in both the Global North and the Global South, assessing whether an emerging executive cadre is an important instrument for driving meaningful change or a dangerous obstacle to transformation and development.