Wednesday.
The cabinet reshuffle by President Cyri Ramaphosa has come and gone.
The head of state has finally finished dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s – and applying his thoughts, mullingly – and has named a team that will allegedly help people run the country, between now and next year’s election.
The president has chosen and disappointed – more of the latter, unfortunately – added two new bodies to the cabinet in an attempt to keep the lights on and the party in power after May 2024.
How appointing more ministers will help Ramaphosa achieve his goal of reducing the size of his government is a bit beyond me.
According to Cyril, everything else-is-less is only temporary – together with the electricity ministry, occupied since Monday night by the former head of infrastructure of the president, Kgosientsho “Sputla” Ramokgopa.
Ramaphosa assumed that the president and the treasury would come up with a plan to eliminate the size of the cabinet, which would take place after the national and provincial elections.
My money is never on that, whether the ANC governs solo or through a coalition after the election.
It is difficult to picture comrades – and those who do business to stay in power nationally and in the province – voluntarily cut themselves free from the public purse.
The vibe of the Ramokgopa project is the same.
The electricity minister is a temporary gig – transition minister, to quote the boss – and one that will end if, and when, Eskom is fixed and the lights are back on.
So, Ramokgopa’s main goal is to get him fired – to make himself redundant, obsolete, redundant, no longer needed – by doing work and fixing the electricity supply.
On the day of the person we get it right, he went out the door.
gone.
It’s a bit of a daunting task – not only philosophical – but judging from the video of Ramokgopa electrifying the dance floor that has surfaced on social media since the appointment, which at least comes with some serious energy.
And some moves.
Given the state of Eskom’s power plant – we’re already back on stages four and five to shed loads before Ramokgopa gets to office on Tuesday morning – there’s no chance our new minister will be working late shifts anytime soon. season.
Like many of my fellow South Africans, I wonder how those who get a cut from the head of state on Monday night come home from work.
Will the former condolence and tourism ministers, Nathi Mthethwa and Lindiwe Sisulu, be allowed to use their official ministerial vehicles and their magnificent blue lights for the last time?
Or are they forced to make their own way to the minister’s place, assuming that they are allowed to sleep there on Monday, because the minister’s status and privileges – well, some people – are out the window?
Should Mthethwa be allowed to take the R22 million glow-in-the-dark flagpole – or the R30 million orchestra – into the Palace with him?
Nyambose must have struggled to match Uber – along with God knows how many funeral programs and a celebrity speaker or two – when he cleared the office on Wednesday night.
The struggle continues.
I am very worried about Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, the former minister of women, children and the disabled, who was reportedly in New York City, when Ramaphosa dropped the hammer.
Should the former minister be allowed to catch the business class flight back from the Big Apple that was booked for him before he was sacked?
Does he get off and fly home with economic players as a general or park MP, or should Nkoana-Mashabane cough up for the plane and return to Mzansi on Tuesday morning?
Awkward, but nowhere near as awkward as Chief Justice Raymond Zondo – and Zizi Kodwa – must have felt during the swearing-in of Mthethwa’s replacement.
Not long ago Zondo suggested Ramaphosa was considering sacking Kodwa as minister of state security because of his relationship with former EOH boss Jehan Mackay.
Awkward, really.
I blame Tottenham Hotspur and not the political factor – or lack of talent – because Sisulu was canned and replaced by Patricia de Lille, the leader of the opposition, a symbolism that must have stung a bit.
Spurs have been ending their careers – footballers and coaches – since the middle of the last century, so Sisulu losing his job after joining the Lilywhites was inevitable.
Written in the stars.