Many ministries in our bloated Cabinet have to go - starting with Gayton McKenzie's Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture

We all dream of a government that will actually govern for the benefit of all who live in SA. But then we get politicians who apparently, according to their own ‘vision’ get elected for their own benefit and grandeur. They believe they are elected to rule over their ‘underlings’.

Totally agree. A cabinet bloated by bloated egos. Angie, Blade, Gwede - please go home.

Great article! Truth in black and white print. I would volunteer changing the collective of GNU’s to a “Parliament of GNU’s”, milling about in confusion, while a suggested “Corruption of Lions” feast on their non-sense decisions.

Absolutely spot on about the amalgamation of all the various 'economic clusters' into a single ministry. It's ridiculous that we have so many, most of whom are headed by abject, useless cadres there simply to balance ANC internal politics.

Brilliant article Heather! Thank you.

Worst, then they blame the bloated cabinet on the will of the voters???? Voters voted for change and better governance and livelihood. I do not think this equates to a bigger parlement.

The DA ,and other parties worth their salt, must simply refuse to participate in this bloated unmanageable cabinet and resign if need be. This government will not work and they will be blamed for it, in the same way that apartheid is blamed for all their ills. Insist on a cabinet of not more than 20 members with no deputies. The US and country way above us in virtually everything can cope with a 25 member cabinet so should we with a much smaller one.

Why on earth is PAC in the GNU bearing in mind that it got less than 1% of the votes cast? I believe that CR included so many from fringe political parties simply to dilute the influence of the DA. Like so many in the ANC, CR has yet to realise that the ANC did not win in this election.

Agree with observations about McKenzie. Agree that Cabinet is obese. Disagree with suggestion that we don't need Ministry of Sport Arts and Culture.

The UK has just formed a new Labour Cabinet - total of 22 Ministers and Deputies. SA GNU Cabinet - 77 Ministers and Deputies UK GDP - ZAR 52.21 Trillion SA GDP - ZAR 6.87 Trillion Makes you think - Does it not !!!

Gayton likes his rugby at least. Good indicator :)

"SABC's Youtube channel", says a lot.

A ranger on a safari once told me that the collective noun for a herd of Wildebeest (Gnus) is an "implausibility"....I think that is quite apt when it comes to this rag-tag band of ministers!

Why should our identity be "rooted in Africa " when for a lot of people that is a false identity usually used for marketing or virtue signalling purposes. Our SA identity is what we want to it to be, the only non negotiable being to obey the law and pay your taxes.

Nice article, insightful and well written. A little off topic, but the BET awards are mentioned - an award only for non-white people? How come this never gets called out for being racist?

So many underperforming civil servants. So many Ministers who have achieved little . So many Deputy Ministers who have achieved even less. Who needs them? Why? DA beware. I fear failure by association around the corner. Cry the Beloved. Sigh.

Gayton is a great man, whose contribution is needed for Cabinet!

WOW all the praise for the DA, who cannot win elections. They spent R165m & assisted by big bussiness & many NGOs & sto6ll failed Approx 78% of South Africans rejected them

There should be 8 super ministers with multiple departments under them. Political ministers have oversight duties. They are not supposed to micro-manage departments. The DGs - who 'run' departments - should report to ministers and parliament. All departments have a DG. Then group all the departments under common ministries. For example, Social Services should include women, children, sports, culture, youth, SASSA, etc, where each DG reports to a single minister. Same with say, Safety & Security, where one minister can have oversight of SAPS, SANDF, NIA, Correctional Services, etc etc. They do not each require their own minister. The cabinet is overbloated at 32.

The single minister that needs to go is the President. He was weak, racist, corrupt and ineffective before the election and Squirrel will be the same going forward.

Not much different to the NP Cabinets of the past. As a senior public servant I sometimes made presentations to cabinet and was appalled by their ignorance as shown in their questions.

Heather makes it clear that her detest of people like Gayton is the real backbone of her argument… skipped the rest if these read as it’s filled with emotional hype and objectivity.

Whatever the writer’s differences with Gayton should not cloud her judgement on the DSAC. If politicians weren’t so obsessed with power they’d realise that an arts and culture ministry is really a crucially important ministry second only to the Treasury. Gayton’s history aside, this is a real opportunity to correct the white and black nationalism that we have been exposed to up till now. This is the first time in 20 years that someone other than an ANC cadre with a skewed agenda will run a department that should have the nations interest at heart, not just its liberation. Where is the slave memorialisation for instance? It’s as if slavery wasn’t practised here. What about giving some attention to the mother of SA music. Ever heard of goema? Probably not. It directly or indirectly influenced most of the popular indigenous music we listen to, from boeremusiek to marsbi and kwela, but no one knows that. Hopefully Gayton will pay some attention to this deficit in our cultural balance sheet. If you “shave off” this crucial ministry, who will look after heritage? Definitely not Trade$Industry - no, the $ is not a mistake. They do not have the skills to deal with the arts and heritage, because it is not solely about trade, nor is it just an industry in the true meaning of the word. Let’s hope that Gayton susses the gaps, fixes the bloopers (like the amalgamation of all museums in the country regardless of their focus - except of course the liberation museums - under one Board. This would be a massive mistake and the end of numerous small niche museums), and does it all with no corruption, fear or favour.

Agree on shutting down this ministry. You don't need a fat department to make a difference. Take that enormous budget and only do two things for the next 5 years: Educate, train and upskill sports and music and the arts teachers and coaches. Build hundreds of new, as well as restore and renovate, community sports facilities in every last town and finance their operations. Build community theatres, studios, hubs and schools that train in the creative arts. Stop going big and reaching nobody but your ego. Go local, go community. When last did you use a local municipality swimming pool?