New cabinets' first week is scattered with potholes
May 18, 2009
By Donwald Pressly
South Africa's new national cabinet was sworn in a week ago and the only provincial cabinet in opposition hands - in the Western Cape - has had a decidedly rocky start since being unveiled a little earlier.
Already Premier Helen Zille has decided not to attend a radio debate this morning because the SABC mandate has changed from examining provincial issues to a dissection of the gender make-up of her cabinet. Cosatu provincial leader Tony Ehrenreich dubbed her a scaredy-cat for avoiding the debate. Zille has quickly learnt - like President Jacob Zuma - that public debate is a potholed route.
At national level, the ministers in the economics cluster are showing signs that the battle between hawks and doves will keep the nation - let alone the media - deeply entertained. Ebrahim Patel, the Economic Development Minister from the Cosatu stable, is making pleasant sounds about business, labour and the government working together. Partnership is his word of the week. But Patel is a hawk. He believes in driving through protectionist plans for industry, particularly in clothing and textiles, from whence he hails.
His inclination is to "protect" jobs through regulation or tariffs, which will contradict the track record of trade and industry ministers since 1994.
The Chinese clothing and textile quota had much to do with Cosatu's interventions. Whether or not Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, a communist, will be able to block - or even ameliorate - Patel's plans remains to be seen.
He has in the past pretty much followed what Blade Nzimande, the Higher Education Minister and SACP general secretary, would call a neo-liberal policy agenda. Presumably Trevor Manuel, the minister heading the national planning commission, won't have much to do with these policy considerations, especially trade policy.
He will, no doubt, have much more to do with resource allocation to the three spheres of government. Oh, to be a fly on the cabinet wall.
There has been little reaction to the fact that a life-long SACP activist, Pravin Gordhan, now holds the tiller. He has been as solid as a rock since taking office. He wants to return to surplus budgeting. He noted that foreign portfolio investments had swung back to the country.
That was before the Independent Communications Authority of SA - with help from Cosatu - decided to fight the R22.5 billion Vodafone investment in Vodacom.
That was week one. Only 259 more to go.
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