President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) following the May elections, was forced to increase Cabinet positions to appease the parties participating in the new arrangement.
This resulted in a bloated government of 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers, leaving taxpayers and the poor to bear the brunt.
The ANC lost its majority in the May elections compelling Ramaphosa to form an inclusive government with 10 opposition parties that included the DA, the IFP and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), among others.
Economists have confirmed that the Cabinet, which was announced by Ramaphosa late last month, will collectively cost more than R1 billion annually in benefits for the ministers and their deputies.
Over R180 million of that amount will be allocated to salaries of the new GNU ministers who will be expected to oversee service delivery in the country.
Ministers in South Africa earn about R2m a year while their deputies could be getting under R2m and plus benefits such as a house, security and blue lights vehicles.
Taxpayers are also expected to foot the bill of over R500m for VIP protection and security while about R390m go to support staff.
While South Africans, for years, have been asking for a reduced Cabinet to cut costs, some have accepted Ramaphosa’s bloated government, saying he had to include every party participating in the GNU.
However, political analyst and governance expert Sandile Swana told The Star on Wednesday that the bloated government did not come with guarantees that they would deliver services.
He said the most productive Cabinet had been leaner and did a better job.
“The most productive Cabinet in the past 50 years had about 36 members under (former president) Thabo Mbeki.
“As Cabinet and state performance has declined faster and deeper, the Cabinet has reached 77 members, some with two deputy ministers and an expanded super presidency … There is no favourable return on investment on the cost of the Cabinet … It is simply an increase in cost for no reward.”
Swana said the bloated GNU was proportionally relative to the parties in the GNU.
“To a degree the parties in the National Assembly however proportionality can work also with seven Cabinet members in total. There is no need for bloating … We are still not clear whether this GNU Cabinet will reduce the 12 million unemployed people by at least 1 million a year. We are still not clear whether this Cabinet will achieve the required R2.1 trillion investment per year (Gross Capital Formation as per the NDP).
He asked: “Will they reduce the rate of organised crime? That is what needs to be answered in order for us to discover the return on investment.”
Economics analyst George Glynos said it was unfortunate that taxpayers had to spend money on politicians and government officials that could be used to uplift the poor.
“That money could be utilised for better purposes like education, crime fighting, RDP houses or uplifting the poor. There are many ways that we could use the money instead of on politicians,” he said
However, he added that everything had to be looked at in context.
“While I am not a fan of big government in this particular instance, I’d rather have this big government that is more stable than a smaller government that is unstable.
“There were few scenarios before we went into the elections and some of the scenarios were not good scenarios. They were negative … In the end some of the scenarios were nullified.
“If the cost of kicking those kinds of influences out of government means that we have to pay for a bloated government then I would say that is a cost I am willing to accept.
“I am not saying a bloated government should be welcomed but given the circumstances of the GNU where they had to include the parties that are participating to give them representatives … If this was the cost of doing so and creating some sense of stability within government I would say I would be prepared to accept the bloated government, at least for this term,” Glynos said.
He said he was not a supporter of big government and did not like big government.
“But, given the circumstances and to try to keep bad influences out of government and in the interest of creating a GNU this is the outcome we would be looking for … I see the cost of this bloated government as a kind of necessary cost to avert an unstable government,” he said.
The Star