spoke<\/a> to Radio Islam International about the matter.<\/p>\nTrollip explained that if a minister is unable to perform his duties, the President would appoint one of the other cabinet ministers to act in that department and pointed out that deputy ministers are not allowed to act as a minister in any case.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the executive are sworn into office. So a deputy may\u00a0not act as a minister unless they’ve been sworn in as a minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Trollip, this is exemplified by the fact that after Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was placed on \u201cspecial leave\u201d amid allegations of interference in police investigations and ties to criminal elements, President Ramaphosa appointed Prof Firoz Cachalia as Acting Minister of Police. Cachalia, who is currently a non-MP and non-Minister, was selected from outside the cabinet and surpassed two current police deputy ministers.<\/p>\n
However, until Cachalia is formally sworn in, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is presiding over the police portfolio in an acting capacity.<\/p>\n
The result: two ministers of police on leave with two deputies, which is increasing government expenditure.<\/p>\n
The size of the cabinet has progressively increased since the dawn of South Africa\u2019s democracy in 1994, resulting in the biggest executive in the world, with deputy ministers outnumbering ministers. The problem, Trollip argues, lies in the fact that deputy ministers do not hold any executive authority and therefore cannot make autonomous decisions without first passing it through the minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey add no value. They make cameo appearances to portfolio committees. And they\u2019re just a drag on the fiscus. It\u2019s all about providing patronage to good comrades and to parties that have joined the GNU.\u201d<\/p>\n
On being asked if ActionSA would accept an offer of a deputy minister\u2019s position in the executive, Trollip answered in the negative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would absolutely not take it. Absolutely not take it. We have made it quite clear from\u00a0the beginning of the GNU that we would not go into the GNU.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Presidency maintains that deputy ministers play an important role and highlighted the value he sees in their contributions.<\/p>\n
“Deputy ministers continue to play a critical role in our government. They are members of the executive, participate in Cabinet committee discussions.\u201d Ramaphosa said.\u00a0He described these positions as a “training ground for future ministerial positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
ActionSA\u2019s private member\u2019s bill has undergone a period of public participation, during which the bill garnered significant support. The next step is for Trollip to appear before the Portfolio Committee to make his proposals, after which it must be rubber-stamped by GNU parties before being passed.<\/p>\n
Trollip said that the cost of the 43 deputy ministers in the cabinet is approximately R250 million worth of taxpayers\u2019 money per year. This estimate excludes housing, motor vehicle, travel, VIP protection services and support staff costs that are incurred yearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we have to increase fuel levies to fill gaps in the budget when we’re actually\u00a0consuming and creating those gaps in the budget through having the biggest cabinet in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the private member\u2019s bill, ActionSA has recommended reducing perks afforded to members of the executive and has drafted the Cut Cabinet Perks Bill. The party says that even if these bills are not passed, it is a way to hold the government accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s using every lever available to us to put people on the spot and to put their parties on the spot so that the members of the public who vote for political parties\u00a0can know exactly where they stand on matters that affect their pockets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Habib Bobat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 11 September 2025 | 12:07 CAT 3-minute read Following calls to reduce the cabinet size, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that despite his wish for a smaller executive, political realities dictate otherwise. The President has defended his decision to appoint 43 deputy ministers amid increasing calls from the ANC and various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":100468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cabinet-of-sa.jpg?fit=1536%2C864&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-q8p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 11:32:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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