Mr. President, we need ministers who take their jobs seriously, please

While President Cyril Ramaphosa is deciding on who will serve in his cabinet, the business world is calling for him to appoint ministers who will take their jobs seriously. In his inauguration speech last week, Rampahosa promised to build a government that is “capable and honest”.

In her weekly newsletter titled ‘We need ministers who take the job of delivering seriously’, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) Busisiwe Mavuso says Ramaphosa’s inauguration speech struck the right note for this moment in South Africa’s democratic history.

In his speech, Ramaphosa said voters showed they want a “transformed, growing and inclusive economy that creates jobs for millions of job seekers and business opportunities for all entrepreneurs in our nation”. He added that the election showed the people “choose peace and democracy over violent, undemocratic and unconstitutional methods” and he promised to work with everyone to find solutions to the challenges facing South Africa.

Mavuso says it was a speech of a true statesman focusing on unity.

“He pushed us to work together to build an economy that provides the means for people to live the lives they want. Through the government of national unity, the president promised to build a government that is “capable and honest” that can deliver quality services and achieve the aspirations of the nation.”

Capabilities and integrity are the most important

Mavuso said as she was writing over the weekend, that negotiations were ongoing between political parties joining the Government of National Unity (GNU) on who will join the cabinet and what portfolios they should lead.

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“That call of the president to focus on the capabilities and integrity of people should guide the choices over who should lead government departments. There will naturally be a difficult balance to strike between the competitive nature of democratic politics and the need for people to work together to deliver,” Mavuso says.

Once the cabinet is appointed, she says, the new ministers and deputy ministers must be able to put party politics aside and focus on getting the job done.

“We do not need any wheels to be reinvented – in many areas, we know exactly what must be done, the job must be to get on with implementing it. Indeed, there is important work that is well advanced that we must remain focused on concluding.”

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As in business, negotiations on joint ventures and mergers are difficult, Mavuso points out.

“Both sides must feel they are getting a good deal. It is important to ensure the other side does feel that it is gaining, which means ensuring that their stakeholders see the upside. No party will want to risk the ire of its voters by doing a deal voters do not like,” she says.

Parties must enable each other

Therefore, she says, it is important in the negotiations to support the other side in pitching the deal to its constituency. Many potential deals have collapsed because parties focused only on selling the deal to their own side.

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She emphasises the deal must also work for the other side, including its voters. Parties must enable each other to demonstrate success to their supporters.

“I have praised before the maturity the ANC and most other parties demonstrated by accepting the results of the elections. That maturity needs to work its way through into the new administration and the way parties get down to work.

“One of the agendas of the previous administration was the professionalisation of the civil service, of drawing a sharp line between party politics and the job of delivering to the public. That professionalism needs to start at the top – we need ministers who take the job of delivering seriously.”

Mavuso says the new ministers must be able to back the directors general and other senior leadership to be effective in running departments. “We must ensure the best men and women emerge to govern us – from the cabinet down.”

Ministers must not aim to go in with their own people

Those who take on new portfolios must not go in with an attitude of putting their people in place, she warns. “That is the cadre deployment of old, which we do not want to see again. Of course, where underperformance and failure to deliver is a factor, there must be change, but in my experience, in many portfolios, there are people who are committed to delivering,” says Mavuso.

She says their institutional knowledge will be an asset to the new administration and enable them to deliver will be the fastest route to success.

Integrity must also be central in parties’ decisions over who should represent them, Mavuso warns. “We risk a great deal if members of parliament are exposed for failing to put the interests of the country and all its people first. That will be particularly true of those who are appointed to cabinet.”

She says BLSA had a good relationship with the last administration, and while they may have disagreed at times, there were also many opportunities to work together to achieve success for all sides.

“I expect the same will be true of the new administration, if not more so. I embrace the president’s call for us to work together and I look forward to the opportunity to engage with the new cabinet on how we can do so,” says Mavuso.