South Africa: Political calculation under social coverage

By on November 3, 2010

The new government roadmap is specifically dedicated to improve access for the South Africans to the basic services, in response to the COSATU – the labour unions, partner of the ANC ruling party that pressured the government to bring down the unemployment, the poverty and the inequalities.

In opposition, the Democratic Alliance believes that this reorganisation is an important indicator of the willingness of the Zuma administration to improve government performance, but this should not serve a political agenda. Analysts also think that the political manoeuvring has already begun as politicians prepare for local elections next year and the ANC party meeting in two years. President Zuma is expected to seek re-election as ANC president, and the cabinet reorganisation is aiming to solve especially the internal problems of the ANC, because there were no changes at the key ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Home Affairs. The real changes should concern the education system, the local Government and the housing. For the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the reshuffle will not solve the problems of the country: on the contrary the Board expressed concerns about an expanded cabinet. The business press and media also stressed that an imposing government will just be costly to the taxpayer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.