The general response in South Africa and internationally to President Zuma's Cabinet appointments has been very positive. He got rid of most of the dead wood and introduced several exciting personalities. From a business point of view this is probably the strongest Cabinet South Africa has had in decades. Having said that, the financial/economic cluster of ministerial personalities is also very diverse in the views its members represent. There will be lots of debates. If anything Trevor Manuel's appointment in the presidency with responsibility for the National Planning Commission considerably enhances his influence; and Pravin Gordhan's appointment as Minister of Finance - given the brilliant job he did in overhauling the country's revenue service - has been welcomed by business. He certainly is Manuel’s intellectual equal.
A welcome member of this team is Robert Davies who has been promoted from deputy to Minister of Trade and Investment. He is energetic and imaginative and is going to make a world of difference to DTI, which has been one of the worst run ministries. Adding spice is Ebrahim Patel, a textile industry trade unionist, as Minister of Economic Development; and the appointment of Collins Chabaneto to ensure that everybody does their job - echoing Zuma’s sentiment that he will not tolerate sloth – is a welcome innovation. Tokyo Sexwale, although not formally in the financial/economic cluster, will offer a shoulder for business to cry on.
So generally speaking, as the London Financial Times put it two days ago: “The new South African Cabinet unveiled by Jacob Zuma at the week-end seems both to have calmed business fears he might lurch to the left, and inspired hope that ministers - including the finance minister Pravin Gordhan - will raise performance." But some specific random observations:
- Regrettable is the transfer of Naledi Pandor, one of the best Ministers of Education South Africa has had in years, to Science and Technology; and equally regrettable is the decision, while promoting Marthinus van Schalkwyk to full minister, to separate environmental affairs and tourism, leaving him with only tourism - as Van Schalkwyk has very deservedly established himself internationally as a serious environmentalist. And I am sorry not to see Mathews Phosa in the Cabinet. As an alternative, he would make a good High Commissioner in London.
- In the short time she was in the health portfolio, Barbara Hogan impressed everybody and, not surprisingly, the various health lobbies have expressed disappointment that she has been transferred from Health to Public Enterprises - also an important ministry but badly managed by successive incumbents. Hogan is a strong, creative person with highly developed management skills, and Health’s loss is Public Enterprises’ gain.
- The appointment of the Leader of the Freedom Front Plus, Pieter Mulder, as a deputy minister should not have caused the surprise it did. Zuma very consciously wooed the Afrikaners in the spirit of his consensual style and partly to counter COPE, whose Mosiuoa Lekota has a strong appeal within that community. Mulder’s portfolio of agriculture, forestry and fishing is most appropriate. Not surprising is Jeremy Cronin’s appointment as a deputy minister for transport. He is the least dogmatic, most intelligent and likeable communist I know. And every government should have its poet.
Beyond the personalities involved and the contribution they may be expected to make, the composition of the new parliament and Cabinet represent progress in the South African political system in two very important areas. Firstly, one of the big failures in continental African politics is the lack of politics as a vocation. Politics, after all, is an end in itself. People who go into politics do so for many different reasons. But in mature societies the main reason for choosing a political career is to gain power and influence, and so to contribute to the betterment of a society. That has been absent in Africa, where politics has mainly been the route to self-aggrandisement and wealth. Looking at the new Cabinet, I have a strong sense that the vocational element has been strengthened. Appointments have been made on ability to do the job rather than on contributions to the struggle, etc. Without wishing to ex aggerate this (because after all he has already made his fortune) Tokyo Sexwale’s commitment to politics and inclusion in the Cabinet has both practical and symbolic significance - in that he has stood down as executive chairman of his company Mvelaphanda and will no doubt resign his other many directorships.
The second important development arising out of the composition of the newly- elected Parliament and Cabinet is a strengthening of the middle ground of South African politics. As Anthony Sampson reminds us in his excellent memoir The Anatomist, the success of democracy depends very largely on the predominance of the middle ground and the consensus based on it: "In Britain both main parties roughly adhered to the post-war settlement, which included maintaining full employment, and allowing a mixed economy of private and public industries, accepting trade unions and maintaining high taxes to finance public services. They took similar attitudes to most British institutions, from nationalised industries to the army and the monarchy." The criticism so many people directed at Maggie Thatcher was that, as a self-declared “conviction" politician, she destroyed this consensus.
South Africa's successful transition from a minority race-dominated state to full democracy was possible because FW De Klerk and Nelson Mandela maintained the centre, the middle ground. Between them, and between the ANC and the National Party, they marginalised those on the left and on the right and held the centre. The middle ground disappeared after 1994, with the ANC’s total domination of Parliament, policy-making and almost all institutions of government. With the recent election, the establishment of COPE and its emergence as a major opposition in 4 provinces, and an impressive performance by the Democratic Alliance in winning the Western Cape and setting itself up as the official opposition in 3 provinces, coupled - and this is very important - with Jacob Zuma's commitment to a consensual style of leadership, we can begin to explore as South Africans a middle ground of shared beliefs and values.
Dr Denis Worrall
Email: kamreyac@omegainvest.co.za for all enquiries
www.omegainvest.co.za
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