Ramaphosa broke his promise to cut the cabinet

Despite multiple promises to reduce the size of the presidential cabinet, President Cyril Ramaphosa now has the most bloated government the country has ever seen and one of the biggest in the world.

The current national executive of the government of national unity (GNU) consists of 75 members with 32 ministers.

Amid continued calls to reduce the size of government, Ramaphosa defended the size of the current GNU cabinet at a debate regarding the 2025 budget. 

He stated that the large cabinet is necessary to ensure inclusivity with the various parties in the GNU. 

“We’ve had to ensure that we achieve inclusivity as well as balance,” he said. “We believe that this is important in achieving governance outcomes that serve the interests of all the people of South Africa.”

In his first State of the Nation address in February 2018, Ramaphosa said it was crucial that the size of the state is optimised to the needs of the people and ensures efficient allocation of public resources. 

He promised to initiate a process to review the configuration, number, and size of national government departments. 

However, the following May, the Democratic Alliance (DA) already began expressing concern that Ramaphosa was not committed to downsizing.

“The bloated cabinet of former president Jacob Zuma continues to live on through the current administration,” the party said. 

Ramaphosa’s sixth administration, announced in 2019, reduced the number of ministers by combining departments, resulting in a 65-person national executive.

The cabinet was then restructured in 2023, when Ramaphosa backtracked on this progress by adding an additional two ministries: that of energy and electricity and planning, monitoring, and evaluation. 

At the time, Ramaphosa said he would instruct the presidency and treasury to “rationalise” government departments. 

When criticised, Ramaphosa said it was “unfortunate” that the discussion had been reduced to a “head-counting game”. 

In June 2024, when the ANC lost its majority and the GNU took over, the president again expanded the national executive size to 75. 

Some criticised the move, suspecting that the additional ministries created for the seventh administration were put in place to accommodate those close to the ANC.

Independent analyst Michael Atkins highlighted that the ANC makes up just over 55% of the GNU composition and 40% of the vote, but received over 71% of the national executve.

For comparison, the country’s cabinet under Nelson Mandela was made up of 50 members and 28 ministers. 

This number remained stable until Jacob Zuma became president, when it expanded to 73 members. 

Public pressure to trim the fat

The president has faced multiple demands to reduce the cabinet size since the formation of the GNU.

In March, the Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality (FreeSA)  delivered a proposal to the presidency, calling for a reduction of the bloated cabinet. 

The organisation claimed that salaries, benefits, and security alone are costing taxpayers over R1 billion every year.

They called on Ramaphosa to reduce this number to 26 members, adding that countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan all operate with considerably smaller cabinets. 

ActionSA has also recently gazetted a notice of its intention to introduce a constitution amendment bill that would remove all of the cabinet’s deputy ministers. 

This followed the president’s decision to appoint Firoz Cachalia as acting Minister of Police after suspending Minister Senzo Mchunu. 

Cachalia, a non-MP and non-Minister, was appointed instead of either of the two deputy ministers of police, ActionSA said. 

“If Deputy Ministers cannot step in during a crisis, what purpose do they serve beyond being instruments of cadre deployment and financial waste?” said ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip.