The 38-year age gap in South Africa’s cabinet

There is a 38-year age gap between the oldest and the youngest minister in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet.

South Africa’s current cabinet, formed in July 2024, comprises 32 ministers, the President and the Deputy President.

Political parties other than the African National Congress (ANC) are included in the 7th administration’s cabinet after the ANC lost its majority support in the 2024 National and Provincial elections.

As a result, the ANC was forced into a coalition, called the Government of National Unity (GNU), which now consists of ten parties.

In addition to the ANC, these include the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkhata Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Freedom Front Plus (FF+), United Democratic Movement (UDM), Rise Mzansi, Al Jama-ah, Pan African Congress (PAC), and the Good Party.

However, only six received ministerial positions. Thus, the cabinet comprises 22 ANC ministers, six from the DA, two from the IFP, and one from the FF+, PA, PAC, and GOOD.

Patricia de Lille, leader of GOOD and born in 1951, is the oldest of these ministers and is responsible for the country’s tourism portfolio.

However, if De Lille had not been a minister, Ramaphosa himself would have been the oldest cabinet member, having been born only one year after the GOOD leader.

Ramaphosa and De Lille are followed by the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga, and the Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Pieter Groenewald, who were all born in 1955.

Other ministers born in the same decade include Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, and Science, Technology, acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, and Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande.

It is also worth noting that South Africa’s Minister of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, is 66.

On the other side of the spectrum, South Africa’s youngest minister was born in 1989. This is the DA’s Siviwe Gwarube, the Minister of Education.

Having been appointed to the position in 2024 just before her 35th birthday, she became the youngest member of cabinet in the country’s history — a record previously held by Ronald Lamola when he was appointed at age 35.

The second youngest cabinet member is the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schrieber, who was born a year after Gwarube and is also a member of the DA.

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, born in 1985 and Lamola, born two years before Malatsi, are the only other ministers born in the 1980s.

Average age per party

Although several ministers are in their seventies, the average age of the cabinet has dropped from 61 to 55 compared to the previous administration.

At 32 ministers, it is also larger than Ramaphosa’s previous cabinet, which had 28 ministers. 

The parties with the highest average age are typically those with only one member in cabinet. These include GOOD (74 years) and the FF+ (70 years).

The ANC follows, with an average age of 55 for its 20 ministers, not including the President and Vice President.

The PA and PAC have an average of 51 years, with the IFP following at an average of 44 years for its two members.

The DA has the lowest average age out of all the parties with representatives in cabinet at 44 years. Its oldest minister is Dr Dion George, who is 59.

Young ministers had their hands full

Two of South Africa’s youngest ministers have had their hands full since beginning their terms in mid-2024.

These include Gwarube and Malatsi, whose portfolios have been at the centre of controversy over the past year or so.

Gwarube was first, with the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, relating to key provisions regarding school capacity, school provisions, language of instruction, and the role of school governing bodies.

While the ANC encouraged the Bill, Gwarube’s party and the FF+ took a firm stance against it, causing a standoff between the two biggest parties in the GNU.

Ramaphosa ultimately signed it into law in September 2024, with the first set of regulations being in August this year.

Malatsi encountered similar issues in his portfolio with the SABC Bill, which he tried to withdraw in November 2024.

He did so because he determined it was insufficient to aid an SABC that had fallen into financial disarray, the reason it had been tabled in the first place.

This once again caused a standoff between the DA and ANC. However, this time, it was between Malatsi and Khusela Diko, the chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee, providing oversight of Malatsi’s department.

Soon after Malatsi attempted to withdraw the Bill, Ramaphosa passed a law that took away ministers’ authority to withdraw Bills from Parliament without consulting the Deputy President first.

Malatsi failed to withdraw the Bill. However, the Bill’s development has stalled because the Minister is in the process of outsourcing the development of a funding model to a private company.