Ramaphosa’s Cabinet bigger than Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns combined, says Madisha

The conversation around the size of Cabinet was one of the highlights during Wednesday’s debate in Parliament.

The motion of no confidence tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA) was debated at the Good Hope Chamber in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon.

DA leader John Steenhuisen lodged the motion against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ministers in February because Cabinet was “too big, incompetent, and not producing results”.

‘Bigger than soccer teams’

During Wednesday’s proceedings, Congress of the People (Cope) MP, William Madisha raised concerns over the  size of Cabinet, saying he pleaded with Ramaphosa so reduce the number of ministers as well as the deputies.

“I indicated that [Cabinet] was bigger than three teams of the mostly three soccer teams in South Africa.

“I indicated that if you bring the squads of Kaizer Chiefs, [Orlando] Pirates and [Mamelodi] Sundowns, these ministers and deputy ministers… if you bring them together they are bigger than those particular team,” he said.

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Madisha also pointed out that Cabinet is bigger than those of the richest countries in the world, however, he acknowledged that not all ministers were incompetent.

“A few are only [able] to do their job, but very many of them are not competent. Hence some don’t even attend portfolio committee meetings… they go on and give excuses all the time,” he continued.

‘What about houses, bodyguards’

The MP further expressed concern over the cost of a large Cabinet at the expense of ordinary South Africans.

“What they take home at the end of every month is too much because they are too many. That money can be given to the poor, it can create jobs, it can help the illiterate and those who are ill,” Madisha said.

“This year, it was reported to Treasury that the money this (sic) ministers and deputy ministers used [amounts] to R19 million for cars only. Apart from that I’m talking about [their] bodyguards, drivers and yet some of these people we don’t even know, but should we be really parting with all this money?

“It is unfortunate that some of them are involved in mismanagement [of state funds] and even stole Covid resources.

READ MORE: Cabinet Reshuffle: Opposition questions why SA still has deputy ministers

“What about the number of houses, the bodyguards, and so on? They have houses here, they have houses in Pretoria, and we as the people of South Africa must pay for all that. I plead with the president once again to reduce this Cabinet,” he added.

Members from the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Freedom Front Plus (FF+), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), African Transformation Movement (ATM), among others, also participated in the debate.

For the motion to succeed 201 votes will be needed. The ANC holds the majority of seats in Parliament.

EFF, which has 44 seats, along with FF+ (10 seats), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) (four seats), UDM (two seats) are supporting the motion while the IFP (14 seats) and Al-Jamah (one seat) have rejected it.

The voting process is still taking place.

This is not the first time opposition has questioned why government has deputy ministers.

After Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle in August 2021, the EFF and DA leader John Steenhuisen  called on the president to do away with deputy ministers, as they were costly to taxpayers.

The president reshuffle at the time also included the appointment of 11 new deputy ministers.

While deputy ministers are not considered as Cabinet members, they are required to assist the relevant Ministers in the execution of their duties, according to the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.

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