Video by Ayanda Ndamane (ANA)
The new ministers appointed in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest Cabinet reshuffle this week are expected to hit the ground running after they were sworn in at Tuynhuys by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The new ministers and deputy ministers take office with 16 months left before the national and provincial elections next year.
Paul Mashatile takes office as the deputy president of the country.
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is the new minister of electricity, tasked with solving the energy crisis.
Both men had earlier promised to hit the ground running and attending to the needs of the country.
Ramokgopa acknowledged the tough road ahead as load shedding continues to wreak havoc on the economy, which dipped further with GDP shrinking 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The Cabinet is expected to implement the resolutions taken by the ANC at its Nasrec conference in December.
Ramaphosa also acknowledged that there was not much time left to get the country out of the quagmire.
Analysts have called on the government to pay attention to the state of municipalities, with reports from the auditor-general painting a bleak picture of governance and service delivery.
Almost R30 billion is lost in irregular expenditure and the AG has complained about a lack of a paper trail in some of the transactions.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng has been appointed to fix local government with Parks Tau as one of her two deputies.
Both Tau and Nkadimeng had served as mayors – Tau in Johannesburg and Nkadimeng in Polokwane.
Current Affairs