Suck it up! Bloated Cabinet can be blamed on voters, says Minister in the Presidency

Yup - here we go. Don't for one minute think you're going to change anything. Remember, Retief had a signed deal in his satchel when he met his end.

She is particularly arrogant and obstructionist. Strength to the Ministers who wish to see progress.

No, it was not necessary for the electorate to be saddled with a bloated cabinet, and the expense. This was entirely due to the ANC wanting to stuff the Cabinet with excess Deputy Ministers and keep all key positions for itself, and other parties specifically seeking positions rather than putting the interests of the country and people first. They quite honestly could have reduced the size of the Cabinet, which they badly needed to do, and allocate the positions proportionately. We certainly did not need so many multiple deputy Ministers for virtually all departments, and we certainly do not need nearly as many Ministers. This is just greed by politicians.

One just can't believe this. We lost our majority, come and govern with us, but we'll still do it our way.

They are quite determined to remain the decision makers in all areas, even those they gave to other parties.

"Asked about concerns over the cost of this bloated Cabinet, Ntshavheni said this was an outcome of voters’ choices – and indicated that if voters were unhappy, they should consider making different choices in the next election" This comment is quite unbelievable. How about reducing the number of ANC people in the cabinet? It's clear to everyone except the ANC. I'm totally blown away by this. It's the tax payers fault that the cabinet is bloated. Oh come on!!! At first I was so full of hope, but they are playing every dirty game they can to keep their nasty grubby paws on all the power they can. I am quite disgusted.

I guess Khumbudzo must learn a bit what GNU is, it is not an animal (Thanks Zapiro!) To blame the voters for the extra cost off a (an even more) bloated government? These are signs that the ANC really still want to stay in control. (Look at what happened in Gauteng this week.) Times forward is going to be interesting...

She sounds like...blaming the electorate for election outcomes therefore the bloated cabinet, as if cabinet size was a lot smaller prior GNU.

Just keep the previous cabinet payroll and divvy it up between the new cabinet. They earn too much anyway

The Seventh Administration is not bound by a 12 year old National Development Plan, which was developed solely by the ANC, and which is certainly no longer fit for purpose. The ANC also needs to learn that it cannot dictate policy, as it is not running a majority government. They cannot carry on operating with the attitude that they have operated for the last 30 years, although they certainly do not seem to be showing any signs of learning or accepting that reality.

So a new minister is bound by a 12y old strategy? Why stop there? Why not the Whatever Whatever White Paper from 1970? I’ve asked here before, maybe somebody can explain? Does cabinet function like a company board majority vote on an issue and then the relevant director (minister in this case) has to toe that line? My impression is the old government (of April 2024 not 1964) functioned or more accurately stood still, requiring Consensus in Cabinet among all the Comrade Communist Cadres before anybody could do anything. Prediction : this wildebeest will be hanging on a wall by Christmas.

Her job - as the Minister who is politically accountable for functions within the Presidency which includes the operating of cabinet - is to account to Parliament for the costs associated with a large cabinet. Any proper performance agreement will require that she ensures that the costs associated with cabinet are lower in 2024/2025 than they were in 2022/2023. If she cannot find means to trim the fat by reducing ministers spend and the like then she must be removed. Fortunately many of the new ministers are committed to using blue light brigades etc... less but she must be the active force in getting cabinet to trim expenditure and increase the efficency of all ministers. Instead she is pretending that she is the Prime Minister and is assuming authority over other cabinet ministers. This is dangerous and at this juncture represents the greatest threat to the GNU

Chill, she is just the political version of the CEO's executive PA.

Good grief, the ANC just can’t bear the thought of no longer being the RULING PARTY… their modus operandi is to talk, talk, talk while sitting on their well padded tax payer funded behinds when we voted for ACTION… so tired of all their recycled plans and papers, get over yourselves and roll up your sleeves and get to WORK!

The arrogance and denialism beggars belief. The bloated cabinet is nothing more than an exercise to manipulate numbers and try to control outcomes. The ANC still has not realized that they lost the majority and with that, they also lost their right to dictate anything to anyone. Perhaps the reports about no more wasting of tax money on cushy lifestyles for the MP's is becoming a bit too much to bear. Or perhaps the ability for ministers to then go back and start auditing past expenditure approvals in their new departments is making some people rather uncomfortable. I read that a shower rod was replaced at one of the government properties at a cost of 50K. Must be a shower rod made of real gold. The person who approved that spend should be sent to jail because someone was clearly getting a kick back with that price tag. The opposition parties that joined the GNU need to be very careful because the ANC clearly believes that it still calls the shots. Since the ANC is not sticking to the agreed document already, how can they expect the other parties in the agreement to do the same. Mbalula didnt even understand what he was signing! I can only hope that the government does not collapse into an absolute sh!t show but when I read stuff like this, that seems to be the most likely outcome.

The quicker she realises that the GNU is not the "ANC + Necessary Others" the better. Why would we want a 2012 plan that they failed to deliver? We voted ANC out as a catalyst for action, not for bureaucracy. Get with the program lady.

What an arrogant Tyrantette! Sure - she has listened to the will of the people! Im sure "Lemons" will come to haunt her very soon

The anc government is clearly single handedly responsible for the demise of SA !!!

Ironic how the ANC is unilaterally dictating the terms by which no single party or minister must make decisions for themselves.

Minister Ntshavheni, please shut up - its the will of the people

And the Narcissism continues. They need to go in the next Election.

And the Narcissism continues. They need to go in the next Election.

The elephant in the room is that the bloated cabinet was necessary to satisfy factions within the ANC, to keep Ramaphosa fairly safe. Therefore may very ineffective and corrupt leaders were retained and recycled, although they don't do much work. It would have been great if he could stop pandering to people who wants to keep their jobs but cannot fulfil their mandate. One wonders how many of them actually read and reflected on the constitution before being sworn in.

Shem, it must be difficult to come to terms with not being the baas.

Yes - we voters have been taught a lesson! Next time, no one should vote for the ANC, then we can do away with that part of the bloated cabinet.

These clowns haven't even implemented their own 12 year-old plan. The arrogance is breathtaking.

ANC cannot accept that it has no majority. Ministers should be able to implement plans that lead to improvements, something the ANC could not achieve. The new ministers should tell Ntshavheni to take a hike as the new ministers were appointed to change the ANC's corrupt practices

Um, calm down people. The different departments need to work in concert. You can't just go on your own mission because you have decided its the way to go. Imagine if the departments of a company did that? There would be howling from the rooftops about the incompetence. Formulate your plans, but align them with the group before forging ahead.

The ANC has forgotten that it lost the election. It cannot implement 100% of its policies to over 100% of people in SA because it did not reach the electoral threshold of 50%+1% to do so. Since this is a GNU, the ANC cannot expect other parties to implement its policies in toto. I believe that's the purpose of the Cabinet Policy Lekgotla. A compromise has to be made by all parties on policy and the programme of action. This minister and the ANC caucus leader are dreaming if they think just because they hold the Presidency they can force other parties to implement ANC policies to the latter. It defeats the very meaning of a power-sharing deal.

Don't for one second think about doing anything to fix stuff ok? Let the sewage flow in the streets, the ports close, the railways remain shut, the potholes stay open, the permit queues and visa backlogs lengthen, and the criminals run amok. That's policy and don't forget it.

I’d like to join the the Legotla next week, is there a link? An agenda?

Her, Mostert, Lesufi birds of a feather. Amazing how politics trumps pragmatism. If this lot don’t get the job done there will be a huge swing away from all GNU members. So unless back door deals have already been done, which would not be surprising, time to stop playing spoilt brats.

We can only hope some of the promises about putting South Africa first will be fulfilled.

Bloated cabinet, Ntshavheni said this was an outcome of voters choices????really? Its bloated due to keeping as many useless cadre's as possible employed. ANC will always play the blame game.

This pencil is really not so sharp!!!

This election has shown the true colors of the ANC to The People of South Africa! Those that did not see them before the elections. There is only one way to fix SA and that is to vote DA in the next elections and in local elections along the way. The ANC has blown it and those tiny parties supporters can now see their uselessness, quaint but useless.

One gets that some in the ANC are stuck in the "denial" stage of the grieving process, but just as the Nats had to accept that Apartheid's time had ended (too little and too late to "adapt or die" and to "cross the Rubicon" long after the "winds of change" had blown), the ANC must accept that Corruptheid's time is ending and that the electorate rejected not just their faces but their fecal policies, including the National Development Plan of 2012. The ANC which anyway never forced ministers like Cele or de Lille, Gordhan, Mantashe, Motshekga or Patel to adhere to the 2012 NDP — they might have kept power if they had — cannot force non-cadre ministers to otherwise it is not a GNU but the ANC with co-options (like Kortbroek or de Lille). Kudos to the ANC for accepting the result, (except in Gauteng); now they need to accept the consequences, just as Apartheid's _bittereindes_ had to accept the consequences of their arrogance and obduracy. The winds of change have become a tempest.

The new minister’s are going to try very hard to make a difference ( not in changing the ANCs ideology) The horse’s have bolted and the ANC could regret opening the door