EDITORIAL: President must assemble a wartime cabinet

At last, SA’s worst-kept secret, that deputy president David Mabuza has resigned, was confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office this weekend.

This gave the clearest indication yet that the president’s long-heralded cabinet reshuffle is both inevitable and imminent. The shambolic communication of the resignation of a deputy president — surely no trifling matter — will have added pressure on Ramaphosa, a man not known for fast decision-making, to shake up his executive team as a matter of urgency as the multiplicity of crises deepens.

The pressure on Ramaphosa is coming from at least three fronts: first, his party’s 55th national conference delivered a new executive committee including a new deputy, in Paul Mashatile, after rejecting Mabuza; second, in general, his cabinet is groaning with underachievers; and third and most important, South Africans are tired of the country’s decline under the ANC’s incompetent rule.

The first point means Ramaphosa needs to reward his new allies with ever-shrinking patronage of government posts. The second is an opportunity for him to show us he cares about our grievances.

The third is a personal challenge — that he needs to prove that he appreciates the scale of our crisis, the rising cost of living despite a social welfare system that is supposed to be comprehensive; descent into lawlessness and disorder; a lack of a credible plan to end power blackouts; rising interest rates to curb stubborn inflation; paltry, jobless growth; rising poverty and hunger; and unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment, which is now probably the biggest threat to SA’s stability.

Many interest groups are lobbying Ramaphosa to reward them with government posts for their support. If history is anything to go by — and specifically recalling his first tenure as president — he will most likely try to thank his supporters, and especially the bouncers who saved his presidency in December when it all teetered on the brink of an abrupt end.

In December his party members gave two clear messages. First, they gave him the benefit of doubt on the Phala Phala scandal, which he has yet to fully explain by committing to one version, and second, they emphatically rejected some of the old guard, including previously untouchable union and communist allies. He ignores both messages at his own peril.

This newspaper cares more about this country’s fate than any of the ANC’s factions and vested interests. We also know what a futile exercise it would be to pick a cabinet for the president; our choices would be rejected, and our list of deadwood may well be rewarded with senior appointments.

Instead, we remind the president of the significance of this moment. Even though our country is not at war with a single external enemy, it is in a war with many internal foes. He will no doubt mention — and blame external forces for — the rising cost of living worsened by high inflation amid persistent poverty, unemployment, inequality. He may be less keen to discuss an economy anchored in the mire of state ineptitude that cannot create enough jobs, and — worse — that state-run Eskom cannot power factories and mines, and that state-run Transnet has ensured our commodities cannot reach the ports.

Accordingly, we need a “war cabinet” drawn from the best among ourselves inside and outside his party within the constitutional limits that narrows his options.

Our country is blessed with a vast talent pool of ethical South Africans of all races with appropriate qualifications, experience and expertise. Unfortunately, narrow party self-interest, as exemplified by the cynical “deployment” of the worst among us as long as they wore party regalia, has proved a curse for our nation.

What matters now is less about which party we belong to, but more about our willingness to save our country from a deepening and dangerous divide between the haves and the have-nots.

So, as the president gets around to announcing the composition of his new cabinet, we would like to remind him of the significance of this moment: we face an existential crisis as a country, and we need adults in the room who are pragmatic and not willing to put impact ahead of ideology.

We need a cabinet of committed, suitably qualified men and women. Unfortunately, his party, which is responsible for the energy crisis and the decline of the of state-owned enterprises, offers a diminishing pool from which to select leaders to get us through this crisis. This is a result of its own decline as a party of integrity, compassion and courage.

We urge the president to use his strong ANC victory to broaden his selection pool beyond his parliamentary party and its new national executive committee to constitute a robust and fearless cabinet fit for this moment.