The president has announced his latest cabinet reshuffle

If there is one thing that the Zuma presidency was synonymous with, it was cabinet reshuffles and midnight press conferences. We would be caught off guard almost every time when then President Jacob Zuma would announce that the cabinet would be getting a makeover.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday morning that we will be reshuffling his cabinet. The announcement took place at 3pm in the afternoon at the Union Buildings. This is the president’s second reshuffle since he took the driver’s seat. The need for the change in cabinet comes after the death of Environmental Affairs minister, Edna Molewa and the resignation of former Home Affairs minister, Malusi Gigaba.

The announcement was underwhelming. Starting almost an hour late, the president did not make any drastic changes. The biggest announcement was the merging of the departments of Communications and Telecommunications and Postal Services under the leadership of Stella Abrahams who takes over from Nomvula Mokonyane and Dr Siyabonga Cwele. Nomvula Mokonyane will move to Environmental Affairs and Siyabonga Cwele is the new minister of Home Affairs replacing the controversial Malusi Gigaba.

Will this reshuffle contribute to positive change in our country or are we going to see no real change from the new ministers? We don’t have high hopes since the president chose to keep troubled minister Bathabile Dlamini as a part of his cabinet even after the SASSA scandal and numerous other antics. While we have no answers to those questions, we can say that all eyes are on President Ramaphosa and his new cabinet as the State Capture Inquiry continues and the  2019 elections inch closer.