South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a new deputy president and an electricity minister in an eagerly awaited cabinet reshuffle announced late Monday.
Ramaphosa appointed Paul Mashatile as the country’s new deputy president, replacing David Mabuza who resigned last month.
“I have decided to appoint Mr. Paul Mashatile as deputy president of the republic,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address.
Ramaphosa on Monday announced that he had appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as minister responsible for the newly introduced electricity portfolio that falls under the Presidency.
Prior to the latest appointment, Ramokgopa was head of the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency since 2019.
Ramokgopa will be responsible for resolving South Africa’s current electricity crisis that has seen most residents facing rolling power cuts over the past two years.
“The primary task of the new minister will be to significantly reduce the severity and frequency of loadshedding as a matter of urgency,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the appointment of a dedicated minister would resolve current challenges where responsibility for state-run power utility Eskom is divided between the ministries of energy and state enterprises.
“This will help to deal with the challenge of fragmentation of responsibility across various ministries and ministers which, while appropriate under normal circumstances, is not conducive to a crisis response,” the South African leader said.
He also introduced the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to be headed by Maropene Ramokgopa. The ministry would focus on the performance of the government.
Other ministers appointed include Khumbudzo Ntshavheni who becomes Minister in the Presidency.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is now a Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons, while former Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele was moved to the Communications and Digital Technologies portfolio.
The reassignment of Dlamini-Zuma took many by surprise as most political analysts had predicted that she would not make it into the new cabinet after she defied a ruling African National Congress directive for its members of parliament to vote against a parliamentary report that sought to have Ramaphosa impeached over a farm scandal in December 2022.
Thembi Nkadimeng took over from Dlamini-Zuma as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, while Public Service and Administration Minister is Noxolo Kiviet.
Former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala is now the minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.
NM/jn/APA