The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) says the Public Protector’s report on Pravin Gordhan did not in any way bar President Cyril Ramaphosa from appointing him to the executive.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane had recommended that Ramaphosa take action against Gordhan after finding him guilty of improper conduct over the 2010 Ivan Pillay pension payout matter.
Gordhan has since filed a court application to review and set aside the report and its findings.
CASAC Executive Secretary Lawson Naidoo says Mkhwebane’s remedial action could have been misunderstood.
“The PP’s remedial action in this matter was that the President must reprimand Mr Gordhan if it’s agreed that he was in fact guilty of maladministration. That certainly would not be a bar to him being appointed to Cabinet and in any event, I think the reaction internationally and certainly from the international investment community would be a positive one because there’s stability in Finance and Public Enterprises. Mr Gordhan will continue to clean up SOEs and Mr Mboweni will keep a firm hand on public expenditure at the Treasury. I think those send very positive signals to the market,” says Naidoo.
Cabinet highlights:
- The NATIONAL EXECUTIVE now consists of 64 members [president + deputy president + 28 ministers + 34 deputy ministers];
- This is a modest decrease from the 75 announced by former President Jacob Zuma in May 2014;
- While there is an equal GENDER split when it comes to MINISTERS (50%), the GENDER SPLIT in terms of DEPUTY MINISTERS is 18 (52.94%) MALE: 16 (47.05%) FEMALE;
- CABINET (President, Deputy President, ministers) is now 16 (53.33%) MALE: 14 (46.66%) FEMALE;
- NATIONAL EXECUTIVE (President, Deputy President, ministers & deputy ministers) gender split now is 34 (53.12%) MALE: 30 (46.87%) FEMALE
- When it comes to AGE, a majority of MINISTERS are in their 60s – 15 or 53.57%, with only RONALD LAMOLA serving as the only minister in his 30s (3.57%);
- Staying with AGE, a majority of DEPUTY MINISTERS are in their 50s – 14 or 41.17%. However, there are FOUR (11.76%) deputy ministers in their 30s and SEVEN in their 40s (20.58%);
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