The BBC welcomes the appointment of the new Cabinet

1 July 2024

The Black Business Council (BBC) would like to applaud H E. President Cyril Ramaphosa for positively considering the BBC's input (during our consultation) of ensuring that the economic cluster remains mainly in the hands of the governing party.

The BBC also congratulates all individuals appointed to the Cabinet (Executive). In particular, the BBC congratulates the new Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), Mr Parks Tau. Mr Tau is fit-for-purpose, and the BBC is confident that he will accelerate the implementation of the socio-economic transformation policies. He has his work cut out as most of the senior management positions in the department and its entities are occupied by people on acting capacity, including the fact that the department never had a permanent Director General (DG) for more than three (3) years.

We further congratulate the Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, for now taking full responsibility of the newly configured department and will be looking at his department with keen interest for energy mix implementation. With him at the helm, the BBC is assured that the country will be provided with the required energy that will enable re-industrialisation to take place in earnest.

The new Cabinet, which in our view represents continuity and change, is a sensible reflection of the difficult balancing act that President Ramaphosa was faced with.

The BBC will monitor the performance of the Executive to ensure the hastening implementation of current policies to enable the country to decisively address the imbalances of the past, increase the persistently low rate of economic growth, and in particular, tackle the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

The BBC furthermore urges President Ramaphosa to assent to and sign the Public Procurement Bill as soon as possible.

Issued by BBC, 1 July 2024