MAKING THE CABINET WORK
When Jacob Zuma finally goes — hopefully within the next few weeks, or months at most — by law he will take with him all his useless lieutenants in the bloated cabinet. That will give the next administration a clean slate upon which to write its own future, and that of the ANC as a political force.
I’d like to give you my version of what a clean and efficient cabinet would look like. As a start, during the past 23 years of democracy, all the ministers of women, sport, arts & culture, small business development and the minister in the presidency have served no useful purpose. They have no place in an ambitious and visionary executive.
A maximum of 20 ministers would suffice. That means an immediate saving on the salaries of the 15 other ministers in the current cabinet. For strategic reasons that include succession planning, only the finance minister would have a deputy.
The finance ministry would absorb the functions of trade & industry, as well as the economic development ministries and departments. On the administration side, the departments would be headed by two directors-general, one for treasury and the other for economic planning & development. This latter would also handle labour issues and policy.
Unlike the current scenario where the deputy president has no defined role, he or she would have overall responsibility for the economic cluster, which could house the economic development and trade & industry units, freeing the finance minister to focus on the economy.
In the interim, the state-owned companies under the administration of the public enterprises minister would go to their respective policymakers — the energy department for Eskom, defence for Denel and transport for SA Airways and Transnet. Pending restructuring that may include privatisation and breakup of the monopolies, these would all be kept as separate corporate entities reporting to a chief director in their respective government departments — for liaison purposes only.
Education policy needs to be handled at the same ministry, with basic and tertiary divisions each headed by a chief director under the leadership of a single director-general. Defence, state security and home affairs belong under the same apolitical leadership. The police, prosecutorial services and the justice system belong together in a law & order ministry.
Put public works with public service
Municipalities, housing and infrastructure (like that of water) also belong under the same leadership umbrella. Environment goes with tourism. Public works belongs with the public service & administration department to handle the affairs of civil servants and public office bearers. All the communications departments belong under the same minister and DG.
The rural development & land reform department belongs with agriculture. Social development and health go together (the policy has been well developed and largely completed, though Bathabile Dlamini is doing her best to destroy the administration side). That leaves mineral resources, international affairs and science & technology (to house all the research instruments) as stand-alone entities.
Leaders in government should be specialists, the best brains available, with a track record of success in their areas. That would be only the start in trying to fix what Zuma and his minions have broken. But the first point is to immediately remove Zuma and all he represents. Cyril Ramaphosa and his NEC team dare not squander the chance to cut out the cancerous tumour of corruption. Time and tide wait for no man.
For strategic reasons that include succession planning, only the finance minister would have a deputy