Cabinet GNU: The strengths, the weaknesses — Ray Hartley

There are some big surprises and disappointments in the first Cabinet of South Africa’s new Government of National Unity (GNU). In this interview with BizNews, Ray Hartley of The Brenthurst Foundation looks at how well matched the new Cabinet is to deal with the country’s priorities over the next five years. He says it is “clearly not a proportional cabinet” - and it “does weaken things a little bit” and “makes it less difficult” for the Democratic Alliance (DA) should the day come when they have to leave”. He points out that it is “quite clear that the ANC is not letting go of the Economic Cluster”. And he is concerned that South Africa “may have an underperforming Cabinet” - and that the necessary reforms “may not occur swiftly enough to actually get to deal with these big logistical problems that are holding up economic growth”. However, he stresses that “it could have been a lot worse” - and that the outcome has shown that it is possible “to reach across some big divides in the interests of pragmatic progress”.