{"id":780159,"date":"2024-07-01T11:30:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T09:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=780159"},"modified":"2024-07-01T11:30:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T09:30:58","slug":"one-simple-comparison-shows-why-south-africas-ministers-are-so-poor-at-their-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/780159\/one-simple-comparison-shows-why-south-africas-ministers-are-so-poor-at-their-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"One simple comparison shows why South Africa’s ministers are so poor at their jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s new cabinet, announced on Sunday evening (30 June), has many ministers in portfolios they know nothing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run-up to the 2024 national elections, all political parties promised a competent and efficient government to serve the South African people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s two largest parties, and ANC and the DA, advocated for a smaller cabinet and more efficient state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa promised to cut the size of his cabinet and national government departments to become more efficient and save money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DA called for a reconfiguration of the government with 15 ministries to create a nimble, cost-effective executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After they received their votes, calls for a smaller cabinet changed into a squabble over ministerial positions in the new national executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was that South Africa ended up with a bloated cabinet with 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of cutting down on ministries and government departments, Ramaphosa separated certain portfolios to accommodate all the new people who wanted cabinet positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claimed the bigger cabinet was needed to ensure it was \u201cinclusive of all the parties to the Government of National Unity (GNU)\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the additional costs, a bloated national executive results in worse service delivery and increased inefficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, an even bigger problem is that many of the new ministers have no qualifications or experience in their portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ANC has always had little regard for qualifications and experience, and the new government of national unity is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of the prominent political parties in the GNU all secured ministerial positions for their leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes the DA\u2019s John Steenhuisen as Agriculture Minister and IFP leader Velinkosi Hlabisa as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PA\u2019s Gayton McKenzie is Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Good\u2019s Patricia De Lille Tourism Minister, and FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald Correctional Services Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were not appointed because of their skills in these areas. They were handed these positions because they were part of the political elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is not to say it is not an improvement in the previous cabinet. It is. However, it confirmed that cabinet positions are about political connectedness rather than skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Minister of Defence and Military Veterans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good example of providing ministerial positions as a political reward instead of skills and experience is Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In advanced economies like the United States, suitably qualified and experienced people are selected for important cabinet positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, the Secretary of Defense is a former general with decades of experience in the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Secretary of Defense is retired general Lloyd Austin, who spent over 40 years in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is a four-star general who served as the twelfth commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) before retiring from the military in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin commanded divisions, corps, and field armies in combat, including in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He received the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valour, for his actions during the Iraq invasion. He also received five Defense Distinguished Service Medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin has in-depth knowledge of the United States defence forces and is highly regarded in the sector. This is needed for army generals and other officials to respect and follow his leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s new Defence Minister, Angie Motshekga, is a former high school teacher and educational lecturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is well-qualified, with bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in education. She is also highly experienced in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she has no experience in the South African National Defence Force and does not know much about the army, fighting wars, or defending the country against hostile forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She thinks like an educator and politician. She does not think like a soldier or general, which is needed when giving orders or making decisions about the Defence Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To expect Motshekga to perform well in her new portfolio is misguided. This is why the United States picked a four-star general for the job instead of an educational specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infographic below compares the US Secretary of Defense to South Africa\u2019s Minister of Defence.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Read: Ramaphosa announces new cabinet \u2013 these are all the new ministers and deputies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s new cabinet has many people in positions they know nothing about. New Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga is a prime example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":780165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8538,1293,20147,20149,8039,20148],"class_list":["post-780159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-angie-motshekga","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-john-steenhuisen","tag-minister-of-defence-and-military","tag-patricia-de-lille","tag-velinkosi-hlabisa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780159"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780187,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780159\/revisions\/780187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}