Hot bets for Ramaphosa’s cabinet
Ramaphosa will have to remove several ministers who are grossly incompetent or compromised, or both
As enthusiasm for newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency builds, there are two immediate tasks ahead of him: reshuffling his cabinet and averting a Moody’s downgrade. Under former president Jacob Zuma the cabinet more than doubled to 74 ministers and deputies. But given SA’s fiscal distress and the R30m-R50m/year it costs to run a ministry, it is clear that Ramaphosa will have to slash his cabinet. He has undertaken to reconfigure it, but will have to move with speed if he is to influence Moody’s, which will decide before March 24 whether to junk SA’s local credit rating. What matters, according to Moody’s vice-president Zuzana Brixiova, is the new leadership’s response to SA’s economic and fiscal challenges and the progress it makes in implementing reforms to address them. In other words, it is looking for action, not promises of action. At a minimum, Ramaphosa will have to remove several ministers from office who are grossly incompetent or compromised, or both, inclu...
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