SACP welcomes Cabinet announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa
29 May 2019
The South African Communist Party welcomes the announcement of the Cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa. In making changes to the Cabinet on 26 February 2018, the President announced that the Executive would be reconfigured after an evaluation of its structure and following consultation. The announcement made on Wednesday, 29 May 2019, is a culmination of the evaluation and the consultation processes the President had committed to undertaking.
The President has matched his words with his deeds – he has indeed walked the talk. This important attribute should be the defining feature of his leadership, and that of every member of the Executive, as well as Deputy Ministers, throughout this term of office. The SACP participated in the consultation process within the framework of Alliance relations and acknowledges broader consultation with other leadership stakeholders of our South African society. In this regard, the reduction of the Cabinet down to 28 Ministers should be welcome by all South Africans. The transformation of the entire state to promote selfless and effective service to the people should continue, towards a capable national democratic developmental state.
Now is the time to turn South Africa around.
In the past several years our country was pushed to the brink by corrupt elements in the state and the private sector. The SACP and indeed other South Africans both inside and outside our Alliance responded by defending our Constitution and hard-won democratic achievements which were being undermined.
The mandate obtained from our sixth democratic general election in May 2019 is a mandate to dismantle the networks of corporate capture of the state, clampdown on other forms of corruption and clean up the entire state and broader economy.
The President and the Executive as a whole must implement programmes geared towards systematically eliminating class, race, gender and spatial development inequalities, including the rural-urban divide. The importance of systematically lifting the poor out of poverty and pioneering decent work to radically reduce unemployment and secure workers rights cannot be overemphasised. By the end of the term of the Cabinet announced by the President, poverty levels must have been reduced to their lowest level since the ending of the apartheid regime in 1994. Child and gender-based abuse and violence, as well as discrimination against people living with disabilities, must have been tackled decisively. All of these and other national imperatives require active communities and a united and mobilised working class rather than the Cabinet alone.
Having made the point, the SACP wishes the Cabinet well in fulfilling its mandate.
Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson & Head of Communications, 29 May 2019
