What to make of Cyril Ramaphosa’s much-anticipated cabinet reshuffle – which is supposed to be a show of strength ahead of the 2024 general election – where the ANC government faces the stark prospect of the coalition’s future. This is one of the things that we can do that can make us all feel the concerns and interests of the nation that is increasingly depressed to be taken seriously, Nkosasana Dlamini Zuma, a 30-year cabinet veteran is now a minister in the presidency responsible for women, youth and men. with disabilities.
Clearly, the political considerations of an unpopular president are more important than the fate of the largest part of South Africa’s population, which is weighed down by the highest unemployment rate in the industrialized world and gender-based violence. And that’s the story of this reshuffle, isn’t it.
As Ramaphosa said it is not an overhaul that the country is facing an economic crisis as a result of the crumbling infrastructure and the collapse of the level of confidence has called out since winning the ANC’s presidential election in December. It’s about filling in the blanks, crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s.
Introducing another politician, even one with an engineering background to the electricity crisis in Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will add another layer of complexity in fixing what is a complex problem – Eskom. He should join powerful ministers such as Gwede Mantashe and Pravin Gordhan from the department of mineral resources and the department of public enterprises. He is now a shrinking violet and a bulwark of Ramaphosa’s government even though he rarely sees it.
A few weeks ago, I speculated in the hope more than anything else that the president will bring people without skin in the ANC game to carry out the task of restructuring Eskom – which is a pet job of open-disposal. A technocrat than any other policy maker. But where we are now, doctors have a lot to navigate in the coming weeks and months, chief among them the sanctioning of a new Eskom executive officer and hopefully a new and supportive executive team.
The process of replacing Andre de Ruyter, who ended up being yet another lousy CEO at Eskom despite well-documented corruption in the organization, is likely to be underway, or should be. We are on day 128 of shedding loads.