Talk from within the government that President Cyril Ramaphosa will reshuffle his cabinet and reorganise the structure of the government for the first time since 2018 has reached fever pitch.
There has been speculation in the past about a cabinet reshuffle, which came to nothing. But at the minimum the president will have to make an appointment to fill the position left by the late minister in the presidency, Jackson Mthembu, whose position is being filled in an acting capacity by small business development minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. The position of former deputy minister of mineral resources & energy Bavelile Hlongwa, who died in a car accident in 2020, has also not been filled.
The future of the department of public enterprises is apparently under discussion. The Mail & Guardian has learnt from its sources that Ramaphosa plans to move Eskom out of the portfolio of public enterprises under minister Pravin Gordhan to the department of mineral resources & energy under Gwede Mantashe and that SAA, which is in business rescue, will be moved out of Gordhan’s control to the department of transport under minister Fikile Mbalula.
While this would align the control of these state-owned enterprises with their respective line function departments, it would considerably reduce the scope of Gordhan’s portfolio.
The newspaper also noted that there was speculation that public works & infrastructure minister Patricia de Lille could be moved to a different portfolio and that state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo and human settlements, water & sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu may be sidelined.
Ramaphosa might use the occasion of a cabinet reshuffle to reduce the size of his cabinet, which opposition parties say is too bloated given the fiscal crisis facing the country, which has imposed deep cuts across all spheres of the government.
Ramaphosa reduced the size of former president Jacob Zuma’s cabinet from 36 to 28 when he took office and may use the occasion of a reshuffle to reduce it further. It may also be an opportunity to remove non-performing ministers at a time when the government has ambitious plans to kick-start economic growth.
Factional battles
Political analysts will keenly watch what any reshuffle says about Ramaphosa’s grasp on power within the ANC to see to what extent his choices are determined or not by the need to appease various factions in the ANC and the tripartite alliance. With the ANC fraught with factional battles between those supporting Ramaphosa and those supporting the radical economic transformation grouping under ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, Ramaphosa’s choices might be determined more by factional imperatives than the needs of government.
However, the analysts suggest that with Ramaphosa having defeated the Magashule faction on the requirement that those facing corruption allegations must step aside from their positions in the ANC, he is now less restrained in how he can act.
On Monday the commission of inquiry into state capture chaired by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo will hear testimony from former Eskom CFO Anoj Singh.
While parliament is in recess there are still committees that are working.
On Wednesday the mineral resources & energy portfolio committee will be briefed by the related department on the recent increases in the price of fuel. As from Wednesday last week fuel prices for April shot up, with 93 octane petrol increasing by 95c a litre, 95 octane by R1 and diesel by between 63c and 65c.
The movement in prices is typically affected by the international petroleum costs, and the movement in the rand/dollar exchange rate but the April hikes were also affected by the increases in fuel levies announced by finance minister Tito Mboweni in his February budget.
The Automobile Association of SA will also express its views on the price increases at the meeting and the department will address the state of refining capacity in the country.
Also on Wednesday the portfolio committee on co-operative governance & traditional affairs will hold a discussion on local economic development and small town generation with the department, SA Local Government Association, the National House of Traditional Leaders and the SA Cities Network. The departments of trade, industry &competition and small business development will also participate.
Research by the Small Business Institute on the effect that the government’s policy on localisation has had on small and medium enterprises will be released on Wednesday.
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