WATCH | 'Good luck to the ANC': Tito Mboweni on cabinet negotiations as more parties join GNU

Former finance minister Tito Mboweni believes more parties joining the government of national unity (GNU) will make it harder for President Cyril Ramaphosa to finalise his cabinet. 

The GNU now consists of 10 political parties — the ANC, DA, IFP, PA, GOOD, PAC, Freedom Front Plus, UDM, Rise Mzansi and Al Jama-ah.

Ramaphosa faces a tough task as he considers demands from GNU partners in appointing his cabinet. TimesLIVE Premium reported the DA has demanded representation in all cabinet clusters.

“Ramaphosa has a very difficult task ahead of him in constituting a cabinet, and for heaven's sake, I hope they don't increase the number of cabinet ministers. We don't need that. The fewer, the better. The more capable, the better to get this country going,” Mboweni said in an interview with the SABC.

What made it hard for Ramaphosa in navigating the process of appointing his cabinet was the different ideologies of the parties, he said.

“I don't know how they are going to navigate through the raft of ideological stances that other parties are bringing to the table. Good luck to the ANC. It is going to be a very difficult process.

“The danger we have here is when you have so many parties coming together to form a government, the question is what happens to the distinction between the executive and the legislature? Will these parties in parliament behave differently from the way they would behave because they're part of the government?”

Mboweni compared the GNU to Nelson Mandela's 1994 cabinet, saying there were differences between the post-apartheid GNU and this version.

“The environment is totally different. In 1994 we were coming out of negotiations involving all parties. During those negotiations it was agreed that an interim constitution should be established, leading to the formation of a GNU. That government was transitional, meant to transition from the apartheid government to the newly elected one.

“Conceptually, this is not a GNU. It is a coalition of parties forming a government. What we have now is not a transitional government; it is an attempt at trying to form a government because of the elections.

“This is actually not a GNU at all. This is a coalition government of the parties which have not been able to get more than 50% of the vote, and I would like to insist on this.”

He said coalition parties needed to agree on a programme which would guide their governance.

“The next five years in South Africa are going to be the years of infrastructure rebuild and construction, service delivery, health system, roads and transport for the sake of the people.

“The basic issues that confront the people must form part of the minimum programme of the GNU. From what I hear from different parties, I don't think there's any agreement on any minimum programme to be followed. They need to agree on something, otherwise this thing will collapse.”

TimesLIVE