SA’s biggest doctor organisation is calling on president-elect Cyril Ramaphosa to slash the size of his cabinet and use the savings to hire more healthcare workers.
Ramaphosa is under pressure to scale back the number of cabinet posts to cut costs, while accommodating the various political parties that have agreed to join the government of national unity (GNU). He is due to be inaugurated on Wednesday, and is expected to announce his new cabinet shortly thereafter.
Slashing the cabinet from 30 to 15 ministers could save R5bn a year and pay for an extra 4,000 healthcare workers, said the SA Medical Association (Sama), citing research by the DA.
Ministers in the new cabinet will earn R2.69m a year and will be entitled to an array of perks including free accommodation, luxury vehicles, and VIP protection services, while deputy ministers will earn R2.2m a year and receive similar benefits.
“Our nation is facing significant health challenges, including a shortage of medical doctors, a healthcare infrastructure that is collapsing as well as insufficient medical supplies. These challenges are worsened by budget constraints that limit our capacity to respond effectively to the health needs of our population,” said Sama.
“It is imperative to recognise that the health of our citizens underpins ... the overall wellbeing and economic stability of our country,” it said.
SA’s public health system has been hobbled by recent budget cuts which have left hundreds of newly qualified doctors unable to find jobs with the state as provincial health departments have been forced to cut back on personnel.
A leaner cabinet would free up money to hire more doctors and nurses, ensure hospitals and clinics were properly equipped, and fund programmes to prevent disease and reduce the future burden on the health system, said Sama.
Last week the Centre for Development Enterprise (CDE) urged Ramaphosa to cut the cabinet to 20, saying a smaller cabinet would be more agile, collegial and accountable.
“We are alive to the political reality of a potential coalition government and the need for the president to accommodate various parties in his cabinet. However we believe — even with this constraint — it is possible to reduce the number of cabinet ministers and ensure the best available people are chosen in key portfolios,” CDE executive director Ann Bernstein said at the time.
The think-tank proposed streamlining the economic cluster, leaving the finance ministry intact but merging three others to make a single ministry of the economy — comprising trade, industry & competition, tourism, and mining.
Transport, infrastructure and communications & digital technologies should be combined into a single ministry, energy and the environment would be merged, and the ministers of electricity, public enterprise, and small business should be scrapped it said.
The social services cluster should largely remain as it is aside from merging the ministers for basic and higher education.
It also suggested getting rid of the minister in the presidency responsible for women, children and people with disabilities and making this a function of all relevant departments.
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