On May 8 this year, the African National Congress (ANC) won a parliamentary majority in South Africa and Cyril Ramaphosa secured a 5-year term as the President of the nation. He declared that he would clean up a cabinet that consisted of tainted officials and ministers that he inherited from his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
Remarkably, Ramaphosa has named a cabinet that has as many women as men. This has happened for the first time ever in the history of South Africa. Consequently, at present, South Africa is at par with other African countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda in terms of gender ratio in their respective cabinets. Further, it is only one of the 11 nations in the world with cabinets that are gender equal.
Ramaphosa also reduced the number of ministers from 36 to 28.
The citizens of the country have kept a critical eye on the appointments of Ramaphosa’s ministers. “The people who I am appointing today must realize that the expectations of the South African people have never been greater and that they will shoulder great responsibility,” Ramaphosa said in a national address on May 29.
Over the years, South Africa’s political system has been embroiled in many scandals that include massive corruption. So, the citizens have high expectations from the re-elected ANC to clean up the system. Several old ministers that were accused of graft had to vacate the positions while some old ministers managed to retain their old ministries.
What do you think about this gender-equal cabinet? Do you think other nations should follow suit?
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