With a Cabinet cut, Ramaphosa could launch a real ‘new dawn’

A Cabinet cut is on the cards and it appears that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” might now finally get off the ground, if his opponents within the ANC allow him to implement reforms at an executive level, which could lead to more efficient governance.

One of those opponents is party secretary-general Ace Magashule, who testily said yesterday that Ramaphosa was not the reason the party won the election.

Magashule also told News24 that ANC members should listen to the party and not their consciences.

ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula, speaking at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s election results operations centre in Pretoria yesterday, said: “The ANC has long agreed on the reduction of Cabinet. We will discuss the reconfiguration of Cabinet as the ANC going forward and that work is being done.

“The report will come before us but Cabinet will be cut from where it is now. The numbers will be informed by the reconfiguration. Details will be given later by the president, having discussed and processed it in the organisation.”

Mbalula also said the ANC was happy with its results and that it had performed exceptionally well.

“Of course, we are affected by the low voter turnout. We have done well as the ANC, we need to be proud of that. We have not been slaughtered, we have been given decisive victory by the people, which we asked for,” he said. “It might not be overwhelming, above 60%, but we’ve got the power to govern and govern well, and that is what is important.”

Mbalula said the ANC’s ability to garner more than 57% of the votes counted by yesterday was a “clear message from the voters that they trust the ANC”.

Mbalula said the ANC Nasrec outcome became a game changer for the party and the election of Ramaphosa was a bonus, as all surveys also said he was a saviour for the party.

This assertion, and singling out of Ramaphosa as the party’s saviour resulted in a back-and-forth between himself and Magashule.

Magashule was of the opinion that Ramaphosa could not be afforded all the praise for the party’s success, and when asked if he agreed with this assertion, his response was: “He is not candidate premier, it’s not about [the] individual, it’s about [the] ANC.”

Mbalula defended his remarks and said “Ramaphosa was an important part of the campaign strategy”.

“Him and Nasrec. It does not mean that we are saying that it is him that made the magic. But he became an important part because he increased the volumes of trust of our people to us because we were under heavy attack and battered.

“We need to build on that going forward, because that is an important piece of the campaign, what we call ‘game changers’.

“He became a game changer with the Nasrec conference of the ANC. If things did not change for the better, who knows? We would have dropped to 40% but to achieve the decisiveness we got now, people are saying ‘we heard you, we trust you’ but it’s not enough.”

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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