Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledges applause after his election as President of the 7th Parliament of South Africa on 14 June 2024. Flanking him are Paul Mashatile (left) and Mdumiseni Ntuli (right). (Photo: Phando Jikelo / Parliament of SA) 
Negotiators for parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) will hunker down from Friday, 21 June, to reach an agreement on the Cabinet and other executive roles. Appointments are expected to be announced on Sunday or early next week.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa can take as long as he likes to form a government, an ANC official said the party did not want to leave a power vacuum, while capital markets also needed direction. Officials said Ramaphosa and DA leader John Steenhuisen would meet on Friday.
What the ANC wants
The ANC does not want to give up any of the economics or security portfolios and wants to keep the Presidency intact for itself. The consensus is that Deputy President Paul Mashatile stays.
The party wants to retain Naledi Pandor as international relations minister at least until SA hosts the G20 next year. For this, Ramaphosa will have to use one of two positions he can make from outside as she did not get back in as an MP.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has won the broad support not only of business and labour, but also of the DA and other parties. He is likely to stay, as is Minister in the Presidency Maropene Ramokgopa. Also likely to stay are Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa. However, Mantashe may lose the energy part of his portfolio and this could see a portfolio consolidation.
What the DA wants
The DA wants control of economic enabler departments to achieve growth and create jobs as soon as possible, according to officials. It also wants the position of minister in the Presidency for party leader John Steenhuisen to work with the Operation Vulindlela team, which is achieving solid reform in energy and logistics.
As a second negotiation push, it would like to run the ministry responsible for local government (cooperative governance and traditional affairs) and the Department of Public Service and Administration, which is overseeing reform legislation that will make cadre deployment impossible or more difficult. Officials and news reports have also suggested the party would like to run the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation because water shedding (rotational water cuts) is adversely affecting most SA cities and provinces.
DA MP Leon Schreiber has campaigned against cadre deployment and would be a good fit at the Department of Public Service and Administration, but the public servants’ union Nehawu would baulk at this. The department is the government’s chief wage negotiator and it usually caves in to Nehawu’s demands because the union is an ANC ally.
Others in consideration include Mat Cuthbert, the party’s policy chief, or MP Dean Macpherson for the post of minister of trade, industry and competition.
The party could also consider deputy minister positions at the departments of finance, health and a delivery department, where young leaders like Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube, Deputy Federal Chairperson Ashor Sarupen and national spokesperson and MP Solly Malatsi can do well.
The ANC is unlikely to concede the role of deputy finance minister because the portfolio controls the Public Investment Corporation, South Africa’s largest asset manager. It also doesn’t want to concede health because of the upcoming National Health Insurance.
What the PA wants
The PA’s deputy president, Kenny Kunene, said the party would like the home affairs or police portfolios so it can implement its election promises to deport undocumented immigrants and fight crime and drugs.
“We’ll see what the President has to offer. They might offer us one ministerial post and a deputy minister [role],” said Kunene.
The PA’s position on migrants is unconstitutional and would fall foul of the foundational principles of the GNU, specifically the clause which upholds “Respect for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights in its entirety, a united South Africa and the rule of law.”
No more quarrelling in public … for now
On Thursday, the ANC and DA met and agreed not to quarrel in public after an interview on SABC by
style="font-weight: 400;">Clement Manyathela with the party’s lead negotiator, Helen Zille, went viral. Zille objected to the ANC including the PA in the GNU.
The ANC said it sent a draft of the statement of intent to 12 parties, many of whom are now joining the GNU. It sees the GNU as ANC-led, a position likely to require nifty negotiation in the days ahead as the DA believes that it (the DA) should be consulted about the width and composition of a unity government.
The statement of intent says, “The GNU shall be constituted in a manner that reflects genuine inclusiveness of political parties that are party to this [statement]... In keeping with the spirit of an inclusive GNU it is agreed that the composition be discussed and agreed amongst the existing parties, whenever new parties desire to be part of the GNU.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: Government of National Unity will see parties consulted on ministerial appointments, according to signed agreement
The ANC official said the statement of intent it signed with the DA, the negotiation of which went down to the wire as the Chief Justice convened the sitting to elect a Speaker and President on Friday, 14 June, was more like an “MOU [memorandum of understanding]” than a final contract.
The official said it was the President’s constitutional prerogative to appoint a Cabinet: “There is no way the statement of intent can override the Constitution.”
A DA official said Zille’s interview was strategic and part of the cut and thrust of negotiations. “There’s sabre-rattling on both sides.” He said ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula had not shown up for a meeting and the DA needed to show that it had to be taken seriously.
For its part, the ANC believes Zille is piqued because her preference for a “confidence and supply” power-sharing agreement where the ANC kept the executive in return for the DA getting leadership roles in Parliament did not win the day.
“We are doing something that has never been done before. I am confident we will find a way through. None of us wants South Africa to fall apart. We are finding each other,” said Zille.
In a statement on Thursday, the IFP, a GNU member, said “There is an urgent need to iron out the differences through a joint meeting by the members of the GNU. We do not believe that the current situation is a crisis. It is necessary teething problems for a new GNU dispensation.”
Ramaphosa’s long, long list of choices
Ramaphosa must appoint a Deputy President, 30 Cabinet ministers and 36 deputy ministers. This is a huge Cabinet and executive, one of the largest in the world.
The Sunday Times reported the Cabinet could grow even larger as Ramaphosa tries to balance the interests of his party, its leagues and its alliance partners, the SACP and Cosatu, as well as the interests of the other parties which have joined the GNU.
The ANC Youth League says Ramaphosa must appoint young members to his Cabinet, while the SACP expects that both outgoing Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande and his deputy, Buti Manamela, will keep their jobs.
Each province of the ANC wants to see its leaders represented and the ANC Women’s League will want to see fair gender representation. This time around, Ramaphosa doesn’t have much largesse as the party lost the election and he must accommodate a growing number of parties joining the GNU.
The FF+ has also joined. Some reports say that it wants to chair two portfolio committees in Parliament while others say it wants to join the government. DM