This week, what seemed like the most eagerly awaited cabinet reshuffle in the history of our democracy finally happened. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced changes calculated to put the government on a higher performance plane.
Perhaps the most significant was the appointment of a new deputy president, with Paul Mashatile replacing David Mabuza.
There are several things these developments tell us about how the president and the ANC wish to position the government ahead of a crucial national election next year. The first is that there were 21 changes. This number belies the idea that gained traction ahead of the reshuffle — that Ramaphosa would adopt a minimalist approach and try to avoid upsetting the apple cart so close to the elections.
According to this analysis, the reshuffle was meant to be a mere vacancy-filling exercise to appoint a new deputy president and replace ministers and deputy ministers who have resigned or died in the past year, as well as make the already-announced addition of a minister of electricity. Some who believed this even called the reshuffle a damp squib before it was announced.
Clearly Ramaphosa had other ideas. He saw this change in the executive as offering an opportunity to reposition his government, especially in regard to some of the major challenges South Africa faces. The key matter to highlight is, most obviously, electricity, given the current crisis, but also our broader economic and public infrastructure, the national transport and logistics network, and the administrative departments responsible for monitoring, evaluating and guiding the work of government and the public service. Moreover, he made changes in ministries that oversee key sectors of our economy that are critical to kick-starting growth and investment, such as digital communications and tourism.
This was no mere tinkering; it was the most significant reshuffle since the president took office. This was a strategic refocus on the most important areas in which the ANC will need to register tangible wins ahead of the 2024 elections. Not that these are guaranteed, but certainly the men and women chosen to lead us in these critical areas are talented, energetic and have proven capacity to deliver on their mandates.
We should be confident about the appointment of Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as minister of electricity; Sindisiwe Chikunga as minister of transport; and Maropene Ramokgopa as minister for planning, monitoring and evaluation; as well as many other appointments. I am also confident the emerging reconfiguration of the Presidency as the centre of policy and action in key areas of focus will bear fruit for accelerated delivery to millions of South Africans who have grown too disillusioned with their government in the past few years.
The president could not have wished for a better deputy and support partner in fulfilling his increasingly urgent mandate. Mashatile is astute, loyal, quiet but energetic, and most importantly, has stood above factional backstabbing that has brought the ruling party to its knees
The most encouraging move in strengthening the Presidency for better delivery is undoubtedly the ascension of Mashatile. On principle, it is right that the deputy president of the governing party should occupy that position in the state for more seamless co-ordination and oversight between the two centres. And while the interests of the public and country always take primacy over those of the ANC, it is also true that an ANC that functions better internally (with unity of purpose, coherence of action and single-mindedness in tackling our multiple problems as a society) is a main ingredient in improving governance.
Second, we have witnessed an unfortunate retreat of the office of deputy president in the past five years, one which has undermined public confidence in the position and perhaps even in the wider government. Injecting new impetus and energy into the role of perhaps the president’s most important counsel and sounding board is a major imperative.
I believe the president and his new deputy can form a dynamic duo to mutually strengthen, feed off and challenge each other to do better and go further in servicing the country. I am reminded of some iconic presidential duos in recent political history — Obama/Biden, Clinton/Gore, Blair/Brown. Closer to home and most inspiring to us, the Mandela/Mbeki golden age of our early years of democracy comes to mind.
Ramaphosa and Mashatile can and should form the axis that changes the game for us on the energy crisis, defeating corruption and crime, righting the ship of state, growing the economy sustainably and creating jobs and opportunities for citizens.
The president could not have wished for a better deputy and support partner in fulfilling his increasingly urgent mandate. Mashatile is astute, loyal, quiet but energetic and, most importantly, has stood above factional back-stabbing that has brought the ruling party to its knees — quite remarkable for someone who has risen to its second-highest position. He is also beyond reproach, demonstrating a healthy respect for the public purse in his various national and Gauteng provincial government deployments.
Moreover, Mashatile, during his time serving in Gauteng, notched up significant achievements that propelled the province and its economy forward, even if many of the programmes he championed and guided to fruition were initially derided and viewed with scepticism. The most significant was streamlining and centralising planning for economic development when he was MEC for finance and economic affairs, a reconfiguration of economic development planning that allowed subsequent plans to emerge and be implemented long after Mashatile was gone, such as the Gauteng City Region urban redevelopment plan and the Growing Gauteng Together (GGT2030) initiative. Mashatile was also instrumental in launching the Gauteng Rapid Rail Link as transport MEC in the late 1990s.
This energy, impetus and singular focus on the job at hand (while not losing sight of longer-term goals) will be a strength in the new, emerging Presidency and an advantage Ramaphosa must harness and use to its fullest if he is to use his second term to deliver on the still-unrealised promise of his administration. The strengths of the two men can complement each other very well, and that can only be a good thing for this government, an embattled ANC and the country.
* Sexwale is a businessman, former government minister and former premier of Gauteng
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