Action SA MP Athol Trollip’s Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill, which is currently open for public comment, rather boldly proposes the abolition of the office of Deputy Minister. He has some other proposals as well, such as tightening the rules on Cabinet appointments, and introducing parliamentary oversight over ministerial selections, but the most juicy nugget is surely the removal of the Deputies.
Under most circumstances someone such as myself who believes in a smaller and tighter government would be all over this proposal, but in this case, in the very peculiar case that is South African politics, I believe that it fails because it is ignorant of the realities behind our political appointments.
The executive branch is shaped by what I assume to be some of the most entertaining late night debates imaginable. First the ANC must decide who gets onto the list, how many from the Youth League, how many from the Women’s League, how many of the wealthy donors, how many who know too much… and so forth. Once this is done, the conversation escalates to include the SACP and COSATU – I imagine. Again there are conversations and negotiations. Who needs who more? Finally, this list is drawn up. I don’t assume that anyone leaves that table without at least a little bit of damage. In the case of 2024, the next step was forming the coalition.
Tannie Helen and Oom Pieter want their seats, cousin Gayton wants some time at the crease, and of course some strategic wheeling and dealing gets legacy parties like the PAC into the door as well. Against this backdrop the most valuable weapon in the hand of the President is the ability to enlarge his cabinet at will. Why not have 70 ministers? Mister Trollip might call this an impossibility and might think me coy, but the people around the table at the final negotiation represent a majority in the Parliament, so if they are not constitutionally limited, there really is no reason why they won’t just enlarge the pie so that everyone who wants a slice can have a slice.
Furthermore, I actually think that a stint as Deputy Minister might be good preparation for the office of Minister, and this development pipeline might therefore actually serve a purpose other than just being expensive.
At Free SA we also proposed a constitutional amendment, which we call the “Power to the People” amendment. Aside from some other practical proposals, we presented the idea that the South African Cabinet should be constitutionally limited to 15 ministers and 15 deputies.
If Germany can get it done with just a Chancellor and 17 federal ministers, South Africa should not have more than 30 state departments. Having such a bloated government is purely and absolutely due to the phenomenon described above: Political positions in South Africa are not given based on public need or on officer ability, they are rewards for loyalty at the right moment, be it at a party conference or in a smaller more intimate setting, we are not yet as a nation politically conscious to the extent needed to scrutinize the members of our executive branch.
Power Back to the Provinces, and Competition Back to the Market
The second prong of the Free SA Amendment recognises that policing, like most public services, is best governed closest to the people. By devolving operational control of police services to provincial governments, the amendment aligns with the principle of subsidiarity, the idea that authority should rest with the lowest competent authority. I am still waiting on a proper defence of centralisation in the information era. Why must so many decisions be made in Pretoria at Meintjieskop?
It just doesn’t make sense. Let the local police chief make the local decisions, let the school governing body make those decisions that are only relevant to their school. Why not? Central planning and micro managing has never worked, and the longer it goes on, the more indefensible it seems to become. This change enables policing to be more responsive, community-driven, and locally accountable. Centralised control has not only failed to contain crime, it has also shielded incompetence from democratic scrutiny.
And finally, our proposed amendment addresses economic freedom in a manner no constitutional bill has dared to do since 1996. It proposes a ban on monopolies by state-owned enterprises unless explicitly justified on grounds of national security and approved by a 75% parliamentary supermajority. In doing so, it punctures the economic straitjacket that SOE monopolies have placed on development.
We have everything needed to have the greatest economy in Africa and one of the greatest on earth (if not the greatest, let’s dream big) – we are simply not getting out of our own way. A system that rewards entrepreneurs instead of frustrating them, that cuts red tape instead of hanging it up whenever it gets the chance – that’s the system that we need now.
Beyond Tokenism: A Real Opportunity for Constitutional Renewal
Mister Trollip MP does make useful and interesting proposals in his bill. Subjecting Ministers to parliamentary approval and empowering the National Assembly to pass motions of no confidence in individual Ministers will improve scrutiny and might reduce instances of unqualified appointments. I would go further: Bring in debates. Let the ministers defend their ability to do what is needed.
Unfortunately, at the heart of his proposal, Mister Trollip MP misses the most important issue: It is about more than just who fills the seat, is about how many seats there are, and how many we will allow the President to bring in. Unless South Africa constitutionally defines the limits of executive power, we will remain trapped in a cycle of bloated Cabinets, inefficient service delivery, and political patronage.
