Cape Town - The reshuffling of police oversight and community safety MEC Reagen Allen to deputy speaker of the legislature is among the surprise moves announced by Premier Alan Winde on Thursday.
The re-elected premier announced his provincial cabinet, which included several familiar faces and three new ones.
The new MECs are Deidre Baartman (Finance), Isaac Sileku (Mobility) and Jaco Londt (Social Development).
The MECs who changed portfolios are Anroux Marais to Police Oversight and Community Safety (previously Cultural Affairs and Sport), Ricardo Mackenzie to Cultural Affairs and Sport (previously Mobility) and Mireille Wenger to Health and Wellness (previously Finance).
The unchanged ones are Tertuis Simmers as Infrastructure MEC, Anton Bredell as Local Government MEC, David Maynier as Education MEC and Ivan Meyer, who has Economic Development and Tourism added to his Agriculture portfolio.
A noticeable omission is that of former Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo, who was still sworn in as an MPL. The other big change as that of Allen, who said he is grateful for the opportunity he had as Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC.
“These last two years were immensely challenging, yet fulfilling and rewarding. There’s so much more to do within the safety space and I wish my successor all the best moving forward. I wish to thank you for embarking on this journey with me. Your insights, criticisms, views, compliments, proposals and thoughts remain welcome. All of these continue to inspire me,” Allen said.
“I remain resolute in my pursuit of justice for all, while seeking to bring about continued change and improvements wherever I can.”
When asked how she plans to use her time as an MPL, Mbombo said it was “too early to figure out right now”.
“I am busy with a by-election in my ward due next week. I have ample time to think about it, we are in constituency period until mid-July.”
Daylin Mitchell was re-elected as Speaker.
Winde said the cabinet members bring experience and institutional knowledge to the team.
“Given the tectonic shift in South Africa’s political landscape, we need to work extremely hard to maintain confidence and stability, but I also believe we need to include new faces to bring fresh ideas into our government so that we can continue to improve the way we govern with both the present and future in mind.
“This cabinet has been carefully put together with the pledges of the Western Cape Government in mind,” Winde said.
The new cabinet hasn’t come without criticism.
Leader of the ANC opposition Khalid Sayed said the cabinet illustrated a lack of seriousness in dealing with the challenges faced by the majority in the province “who are poor and working-class”.
“We also see that African women, who have been the most dispossessed and oppressed in our society, are excluded from this particular cabinet, and this is wrong.
“The announcement of this particular cabinet doesn’t present us with much hope … having said that, we are not going to be prophets of doom, and we are still going to wish each and every member of cabinet everything of the best.”
GOOD Party secretary-general and newly sworn-in MPL Brett Herron called out the appointments as “anti-transformative”.
“The appointments hold the DA’s anti-transformation line. The three positions of premier, speaker and deputy speaker were all men. Not only have they removed the only black woman from cabinet, but Mbombo was literally the only cabinet member professionally qualified in the role she was serving in.
“It is unfortunate that the premier didn’t look at professional qualifications or any other relevant work experience in appointing his cabinet. It is possibly the most under-qualified and inexperienced cabinet appointed,” Herron said.
Cosatu's provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn added that they aren’t excited by the appointments as they are the “old guard”.
“It is again a majority boys club, not a lot of diversity in the Cabinet, so we are highly disappointed. I think the challenges that we’ve had the last five years will continue when it comes to service delivery,” he said.