While the country waits on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet announcement, there is no official indication yet as to when Gauteng premier David Makhura will announce his executive.
Makhura, who was elected as Gauteng premier last week, was set to announce his provincial executive on Tuesday, but this was postponed. The premier was said to be finalising his consultations within the governing party.
Gauteng is the economic heartland of SA and was the electoral battleground in the 2019 general elections in May in which the ANC narrowly held on to governing the province with a slight majority.
Makhura’s executive will have to be in line with the resolutions taken by the ANC’s national executive committee to have 60% female representation in his provincial cabinet, given that he is a male premier.
This leaves only four positions open for the men to take up, which constrains Makhura’s decision making on who to appoint.
It is, however, understood that Gauteng’s departments would possibly have to be in line with the national government, and that the delay in the announcement of the national cabinet could have affected the provincial executive announcement.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi could easily become part of the national executive given his gains in the portfolio provincially and his national profile.
What is, however, clear is that Makhura’s provincial cabinet would look vastly different from the one he had during his first term as a significant amount of those who were in the executive is no longer in the legislature. The executive could now reflect the ANC’s much younger provincial executive committee.
Most crucially, former finance MEC Barbara Creecy is now an MP and her health counterpart Gwen Ramokgopa, who was appointed after the disastrous Life Esidimeni scandal, is no longer part of the provincial legislature.
Gauteng ANC spokesperson Tasneem Motara said the provincial leaders were set to meet with the party’s national office bearers on Monday but that it was postponed until Tuesday when the meeting took place. Motara said the postponement of the meeting with the ANC’s top six led to the delay in Makhura announcing his executive.
Meanwhile, DA caucus leader Solly Msimanga, who lost out to Makhura last week, said the delay in announcing the provincial executive was negatively affecting service delivery in the province.
He said the DA called on Makhura to appoint his cabinet “as a matter of urgency so that provincial departments can begin to provide services to the people of this province”.
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