South Africa should only have four ministers

South Africa should only have four ministers, with more deputy ministers and particularly more director-generals who are the heads of various government departments below them. 

This is feedback from Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt, who explained that only a few ministers are truly necessary, with much of the government’s work being done by director-generals below them. 

Roodt’s comments come amid debate surrounding the proposed tax hikes and spending cuts needed to plug a R60 billion shortfall in the country’s Budget. 

The National Treasury originally proposed implementing a two-percentage-point increase to VAT in South Africa to compensate for the budget shortfall.

However, this was met with fierce backlash from members of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which resulted in the Budget Speech being delayed to 12 March. 

The DA, the ANC’s largest partner in the GNU, proposed significant cuts to government spending instead of tax hikes to make ends meet.

This has led some to question why South Africa should have such a large Cabinet with more ministers than far more developed countries such as the US, Germany, and Japan. 

South Africa currently has 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers, taking its full executive branch to 75. 

“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 in the form of 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 include 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. 

However, Roodt admitted it would be very difficult to slim down the Cabinet as the reason why South Africa has so many ministers is because you have to give every party in the GNU a portfolio. 

“It is not only that reason. It is also a way of paying back, of giving somebody a high-status position that does not really have to do much,” he said.

Roodt also said there is an argument to be made that education is large enough to have its own ministry and that there should be an additional ministry in the Presidency to handle special projects. 

Roodt’s proposal to reduce South Africa’s Cabinet to four ministers and give more responsibility to director-generals is very ambitious. 

However, it is not the only proposal to significantly reduce the size of the government. The DA has proposed, under its 2029 Vision, having an executive branch with only 15 ministries. 

The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) also called for a significant reduction in the number of ministries in the government at the time when the GNU was taking shape. 

“The state’s capacity to develop policies and deliver public services and programmes has been undermined by systemic corruption and too many compromised party loyalists,” CDE executive director Ann Bernstein said. 

“Inadequate skills at critical levels and a lack of accountability for poor performance and wrongdoing.”

“At the same time, government has taken on more responsibilities, creating new government departments and public entities.”

“Adding extra layers of bureaucracy and parallel management structures has made it harder to take decisions and co-ordinate key actors to deliver on outcomes.”

In CDE’s analysis, a better-organized, smaller, and more effective cabinet of about 20 ministers could be constituted. 

The organisation explained that not all ministers have equally important portfolios. The most important figure in the Cabinet after the President is the Minister of Finance. 

“The President’s support must include backing the Finance Minister’s assessment of affordability or otherwise of policy proposals from other ministries and critically of what is and is not a sustainable fiscal position,” it explained.

Some of the less important ministries should be scrapped and shut down, the CDE argued. These include –

• Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation – Downgrade and to be absorbed into Operation Vulindlela.
• Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities – Make this a function in every department where appropriate.
• Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure – Public works should be a provincial function. Infrastructure is part of a different ministry.
• Minister of Small Business Development – Terminate and shut down the department.
• Electricity Ministry – Terminate.

So far, the only government ministry to be terminated is the Department of Public Enterprises, which has been underway for some time. State-owned enterprises now report to their respective line departments. 

The CDE’s proposal also included merging the Department of Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training. Transport and Communications should also be merged.  

Most significantly, the CDE proposed merging the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition; Mining; and the Department of Tourism into one Economic Ministry.