South Africa should only have 15 ministers

South Africa’s government should have significantly fewer departments and ministers, with the ideal number being 15. The country currently has 32 national departments.

This would save the country a significant amount of money and bring South Africa in line with more developed economies, such as the United States, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. 

Currently, South Africa has more ministers and government departments than these countries, which have far larger economies and, in some cases, much larger populations. 

DA leader and Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis made the case for a smaller executive at the 9th BizNews Conference in the Drakensberg. 

In response to a question from Daily Investor, Hill-Lewis made clear that he supports the historic DA position on a smaller Cabinet in South Africa. 

However, he explained that the party currently lacks the authority to implement this vision, as it is the President’s prerogative to determine the size of the Cabinet. 

Thus, despite the DA being part of the Government of National Unity (GNU), it has had to accept a far larger Cabinet than it would have liked. 

“We absolutely believe that the Cabinet should be much smaller and I can think off the top of my had of a number of portfolios that could be absorbed elsewhere or removed,” Hill-Lewis said. 

He pointed to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities as an example and the Department of Performance, Monitoring, and Evaluation as another. 

“As if there ever was performance, monitoring and evaluation in the government. There is a whole number of departments that I can think of,” Hill-Lewis said. 

“I don’t know if removing these departments will get you all the way down to 15, but it certainly gets you to a much smaller Cabinet.” 

Some have gone a step further than Hill-Lewis and said that South Africa should have fewer than 15 ministers to run the government. 

Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt previously told Daily Investor that the country needs only four ministers. 

These ministers would be complemented by more deputy ministers and director-generals to carry out the state’s actual work. 

“The Cabinet should be much, much smaller than it currently is. It is very bloated and, in most cases, the director-generals do all the work, and the ministers are only political heads,” Roodt said. 

Roodt explained that there are only four main functions of government that need political heads in the form of ministers –

• Social Minister – This minister would be responsible for social development, including social grants, education, and healthcare. 
• Economics Minister – This minister would oversee all matters relating to economic development, infrastructure, and regulation. It would also include state-owned enterprises. 
• Security Minister – Much of this portfolio would be dominated by the police, but also includes defence and intelligence gathering. 
• Finance Minister – This minister would be in a similar mould to the role in the current cabinet. 

“This is certainly possible, and everything can fit under those four ministries. You can have more deputy ministers, but particularly have more director-generals running specific departments under the ministers,” Roodt said.