The recent firings of half the Cabinet Ministers and Deputies illustrate that the powers given to the President in South Africa, are far too great.  In other words, irrespective of whom the President is, the right to appoint just about everybody, on just about every commission, court or otherwise, and hire and fire every Cabinet Minister when and how they like, seems to be a bit too much.  On a side note, it is fascinating that politicians who feel that people must be given certain rights by companies, don’t give those rights to politicians – in other words, there is no hearing before you are fired, there is a press conference at 11pm at night where your name is read out and that is the end of your job!  

A system where the person in charge never has to listen to anybody else, or feel that other opinions should be respected, because the majority of his or her Cabinet could vote against them, is an unwise one.  I cannot see how it helps that the President can hire, fire and reshuffle whenever he or she feels under a little bit of pressure from the majority of the Cabinet, who obviously don’t agree on some or other issue.

Another thing that makes it particularly problematic is that you just end up with no continuity with one new Minister after another in some departments.  Many forget that, for example, when it comes to the Minister of Finance, we are essentially onto our fourth appointment in the last 18 months.  That does nothing for stability, but how would you expect the health department or the education department to run if once every two or three years, for political reasons and not because they are not doing their job (which they may not be doing anyway) people are just moved from one department to another.  These are complicated areas, and no sooner do you have a grasp of things than you are moved.  What makes it worse is that in many cases it seems to be the real reason you are moved is because you never approved something or took action in a way that the President wanted you to – irrespective of whether or not the President was right.  It creates an impression that the only safe portfolios at a Cabinet level are those where none of the President’s associates, friends or interests, have any interest.  If they do have any interests, and you want to keep your job – well then you know what you have to do.