The youngest member of Cabinet, at 36, Ronald Lamola takes up a portfolio requiring heavy lifting: justice and correctional services. “He was the natural choice, especially to oversee the Ramaphosa clean-up. The president trusts him,” said an NEC source.
After the president briefed alliance partners and the ANC’s top brass on the final list of ministers and their deputies late on Wednesday, the small group was kept inside the Union Buildings. Their phones were taken away: nobody would put a spoke in the president’s big reveal
As one source put it, “no one is unhappy”. This is largely because of the intense consultation process held in the run-up to the announcement. The final consultation happened on Wednesday, with alliance partners and the ANC’s top brass coming together to hear the final outcome of the intensive process from Ramaphosa. The small group of leaders was not permitted to leave the Union Buildings after the briefing and their phones were taken away until the announcement was made late that evening. The consultation process was described by Cosatu as “unlike any other” Cabinet discussions in the past decade.
Another point of contention between Cosatu and Ramaphosa’s preferences was Mboweni’s return as finance minister. Cosatu had been lobbying to have Mboweni replaced, issuing strongly worded statements in the run-up to the elections in which it accused him of behaving like the “prime minister” and urging him to retire. Cosatu argued to prevent his appointment, but eventually agreed, provided he was given a “talking to”, said a source familiar with the matter.
The youngest member of Cabinet, at 36, Ronald Lamola takes up a portfolio requiring heavy lifting: justice and correctional services. The Cabinet announcement sees the key economic portfolio headed by two unionists, forming a powerful bulwark in the face of the more conservative treasury, say federation insiders. Thulas Nxesi, a former South African Democratic Teachers Union general secretary, was appointed minister of labour and employment. Adding unemployment to the labour ministry is another expression of Ramaphosa’s economic thrust in the Cabinet.
Another leader fought for by this group was Bathabile Dlamini, the president of the ANC Women’s League. But insiders said Ramaphosa’s appointment of 50% women to the Cabinet would go some way to dispel the pushback after Dlamini’s exclusion. The country has become one of only 11 nations globally with an equal number of men and women ministers.
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