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South Africa has a new ministry of telecommunications and communications, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday during his briefing on the changes to the national executive.
Ramaphosa promoted deputy minister of telecommunications and postal services Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to oversee the transition of the two departments into one, which would be completed after the general elections next year.
Ndabeni-Abrahams takes over the political principal role from Siyabonga Cwele (telecommunications and postal services) and Nomvula Mokonyane (communications).
The merger of the two departments was meant “to ensure that we have better alignment and coordination of matters critical to the economy particularly in the context of fourth industrial revolution,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the change was “a first wave” of a flurry of changes that would take place post the elections in line with his vision to trim down the size of Cabinet with a view to make it more effective and less costly to the taxpayers.
“In anticipation on of next year we would have completed the work and after the elections a comprehensive announcement of how we realign government would be made,” he said.
Cwele heads to the department of home affairs, where former minister Malusi Gigaba left under a cloud, while Mokonyane fills the void left by the death of former environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa.
Ramaphosa said his changes were guided by the vision to have a Cabinet that had a mixture of experience, gender and youth, particularly people who were “committed to serve”.
He said that he was “mindful to have a Cabinet that was capable of leading the government’s growth and transformation efforts”.
Ramaphosa also said that Deputy Minister of Energy Thembisile Majola was expected to step down in January for personal reasons.
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