Publications
Partners
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa named his new cabinet on Wednesday, four days after he was sworn in for a five-year term. While most senior ministers responsible for managing the economy retained their portfolios, a few newcomers were included in the lineup.
These are the key appointments:
1. Deputy President David Mabuza
The deputy leader of the ruling African National Congress, Mabuza, 58, retained the post he’s held since the party forced Jacob Zuma to step down as president in February last year and appointed Ramaphosa in his place.
Mabuza looked to be on the way out after he was linked to a series of scandals during his tenure as premier of the eastern Mpumalanga province but the ANC’s integrity committee cleared him of wrongdoing. He’s had a relatively a low profile as Ramaphosa’s No. 2 and there are concerns about his health - he spent more than two weeks in Russia last year undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness.
2. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni
A former central bank governor and labor minister, Mboweni, 60, has overseen the nation’s finances for the past seven months. He’s been a strong proponent of the government spending within its means and selling some state assets, and spoken out against bailouts for Eskom, the debt-stricken state power utility. While the ANC’s powerful labour union allies wanted him replaced, investors will probably see his reappointment as a boost for Ramaphosa’s plans to revive the economy and attract $100 billion in new investment.
3. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan
Gordhan, a 70-year-old trained pharmacist, headed the national tax agency and served as finance minister and as cooperative governance minister before Ramaphosa assigned him the public enterprises portfolio last year. He’s spearheaded efforts to turn around Eskom and other state companies that were at the epicenter of an alleged looting spree during Zuma’s rule. He’s made some headway, although Eskom’s finances remain in dire straits. His reappointment was cast into doubt after the nation’s anti-graft ombudsman ruled that he’d illegally approved the early retirement of a top tax agency official. Gordhan denied wrongdoing and is challenging the finding in court.
4. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe
Mantashe, 63, is a former secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers. He won the ANC’s chairmanship in 2017 and Ramaphosa appointed him mineral resources minister when he took office two months later. Mantashe has helped repair the government’s relationship with the mining industry, which had broken down during the tenure of his predecessor, Mosebenzi Zwane, and an industry body had said it wanted him returned to his post. He will now also oversee the energy portfolio, previously held by Jeff Radebe who was omitted from the new executive.
5. Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola
A newcomer to the cabinet, the 35-year-old Lamola is a lawyer and a former deputy president of the ANC’s youth wing. As the party’s spokesman on land reform, he defended its plans to change the Constitution to enable the government to seize land without paying for it as a necessary step toward addressing racially ownership disparities dating back to colonial and apartheid rule.
6. Minister of Agriculture and Land Reform Thoko Didiza
The task of dealing with the politically charged land ownership issue will fall to Didiza, 53, who previously served as minister of agriculture and land affairs for seven years until 2006, and then for two years as public works minister. The ANC nominated her to be the mayor of the capital, Pretoria, in 2016 municipal elections, a move that sparked rioting, and the party lost control of the city to an opposition coalition.
7. Trade and Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel
A former labor union leader, Patel, 57, has served as economic development minister since May 2009 and will now also take responsibility for trade and industry, a portfolio previously overseen by Rob Davies, who is retiring. While he didn’t make the cut to return to parliament because he was too low down on the ANC’s list of candidate lawmakers, the unions pushed for his reappointment to the executive.
8. Police Minister Bheki Cele
A former deputy agriculture minister, Cele, 67, played a leading role in Ramaphosa’s campaign to win control of the ANC. He was fired as the nation’s police commissioner in 2012 after the anti-graft ombudsman found he had acted unlawfully when he agreed to pay more than three times the market rate for two office leases. He became police minister in 2018 and the country’s biggest labour group backed him to retain his post, saying he has done a good job.
9. Human Settlements and Water Minister Lindiwe Sisulu
The daughter of the late ANC luminary Walter Sisulu, who was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela, she was Ramaphosa’s running mate in the party’s 2017 election. She lost out in that race to Mabuza and was named international relations minister in the previous administration. Her past portfolios included intelligence and housing. Sisulu, 64, was considered a leading candidate to become deputy president if Mabuza wasn’t reappointed.
10. Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Ramaphosa narrowly edged out Dlamini-Zuma, Zuma’s ex-wife and favoured successor, to secure the ANC’s leadership and her reappointment to cabinet may help appease the pro-Zuma faction and promote unity in the deeply divided party. Dlamini-Zuma, 70, has been a minister in the presidency since February last year and oversaw the National Planning Commission. She previously served as chairwoman of the African Union Commission, and before that as South Africa’s home affairs minister, foreign affairs minister and health minister.
11. International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor
Pandor, 65, previously the higher education minister, was Ramaphosa’s first choice to be his deputy when he ran for the ANC leadership but she failed to secure nomination. She was among ANC lawmakers who called for Zuma to step down in a 2016 no-confidence vote, following his implication in a string of corruption scandals, and was also considered a possible contender for the deputy presidency.
12. Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu
Another newcomer to the cabinet, 60-year-old Mthembu is a former ANC spokesman, and more recently the party’s chief whip in parliament. He backed Ramaphosa’s bid to win control of the ANC, and spoke out against the graft that characterized Zuma’s rule.
