Can Godongwana resist temptation?
The cabinet reshuffle this week seems more about clearing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s path to a second term in office than about the overdue elimination of deadwood or even the stench of corruption in his cabinet. It seems trite to make the point that all politics is about the attainment and retention of power. In that sense, nobody expects Ramaphosa to self-sabotage. But would it be too much to ask that this be pursued with a modicum of effort to improve service delivery and eliminate the putrid stench of corruption in the halls of power? Given how long it took, though, that the reshuffle eventually happened is to be welcomed.
But even a perfunctory look at what Ramaphosa intended to achieve with it is more troubling. Much has been said about the incompetence of Ayanda Dlodlo at the state security ministry. Ramaphosa appointed her to this post from her previous position at public service & administration, to which she now returns. His decision might have more to do with his mission to come across as a unifier than the business of governance.
Dlodlo’s partner in the security cluster, police minister Bheki Cele — who shares with her some of the responsibility for failing to quell the recent riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng — has not been affected, ostensibly because he brings to the table an important constituency of KwaZulu-Natal branches, the largest of any province in the ANC. Add to that Ramaphosa’s public promise to redeploy defence minister Nosiviwe MapisaNqakula, she of myriad scandals in this portfolio, and the motives behind the reshuffle become clearer. Add to this the retention of deputy minister of state security Zizi Kodwa, who was fingered at the state capture commission for receiving more than R1m in suspicious donations, and it becomes apparent that fighting corruption was not front and centre of Ramaphosa’s reshuffle.
Perhaps the biggest failure of this reshuffle is what it offers the economics cluster. Tito Mboweni had long told those who cared to listen that he was not interested in the job. That put Ramaphosa in an awkward position.
You can’t steer an economic recovery when the man in charge of the public purse considers his job an inconvenience. Ramaphosa had to finally accede to
Mboweni’s request to leave. However, finding someone to replace him was never going to be an easy task.
In the end, circumstances forced Ramaphosa to settle on ANC economic transformation subcommittee chair
Enoch Godongwana. He might be the governing party’s economic policy guru, but he arrives with troublesome baggage, having been implicated in a union pension fund scandal involving the disappearance of millions. The union in question, Sactwu, now says Godongwana has repaid what was owed to it following a private settlement. Godongwana has no experience of running such a complex ministry, his only experience in government being a short stint as deputy minister of economic development. Is this the man to steer us out of troubled waters? The markets have reacted well to his appointment, so only time will tell.
While we welcome the removal of Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams from the critical communications & digital technologies portfolio, we are perturbed that the president chose to shaft her to the small business development ministry, also in the economics cluster. There is consensus and evidence globally that small businesses create jobs and jump-start economies. What is Ramaphosa saying about this important sector by deploying one of his weakest ministers there?
The deployment of Lindiwe Sisulu to tourism is seen by many as a demotion, but it is another crucial economic cluster portfolio. When Covid restrictions start to lift, the tourism sector will be key to attracting foreign visitors back to SA and rescuing tourism enterprises that are in limbo. That ministry should not be a place to dump unwanted foes.
The reshuffle makes it clear that performance has taken a back seat. At its heart, this reshuffle is about self-preservation.
Perhaps the biggest failure is in the economics cluster