ActionSA Submits Constitutional Amendment Bill to the President at His Request
Press Statement by Athol Trollip MP
ActionSA Parliamentary Leader
At President Ramaphosa’s request, ActionSA has submitted our Constitutional Amendment Bill directly to him for his consideration, following our direct question in the National Assembly on whether he and the ANC will support our bill.
ActionSA’s Constitutional Amendment represents the most significant overhaul of the bloated Executive of 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers since the dawn of democracy in 1994 and seeks to abolish the redundant role of Deputy Ministers and to strengthen Parliamentary oversight over an executive that has come to embody unchecked largesse without delivering commensurate value.
Despite the President’s insistence that Deputy Ministers serve an important role, the reality tells a starkly different story. They are in fact redundant, often sit in committees without contributing meaningfully, hold no executive authority and mostly lack the experience or expertise relevant to the portfolios they are assigned.
By the President’s own admission yesterday, the Deputy Minister positions were expanded not to improve governance but as tools of patronage to accommodate GNU parties. ActionSA is taking this fight against unnecessary waste further with our Enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill, aimed at slashing the excessive costs of one of the world’s largest Cabinets and finally bringing transparency and accountability to the secretive Ministerial Handbook.
ActionSA will await the feedback of the President, his party, and his GNU coalition partners as they study this important legislative effort, and looks forward to their support for the bill, which aligns with their stated desire for a smaller, more efficient Cabinet saving taxpayers R1.5 billion every year.
ActionSA Submits Constitutional Amendment Bill to the President at His Request
At President Ramaphosa’s request, ActionSA has submitted our Constitutional Amendment Bill directly to him for his consideration, following our direct question in the National Assembly on whether he and the ANC will support our bill.
ActionSA’s Constitutional Amendment represents the most significant overhaul of the bloated Executive of 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers since the dawn of democracy in 1994 and seeks to abolish the redundant role of Deputy Ministers and to strengthen Parliamentary oversight over an executive that has come to embody unchecked largesse without delivering commensurate value.
Despite the President’s insistence that Deputy Ministers serve an important role, the reality tells a starkly different story. They are in fact redundant, often sit in committees without contributing meaningfully, hold no executive authority and mostly lack the experience or expertise relevant to the portfolios they are assigned.
By the President’s own admission yesterday, the Deputy Minister positions were expanded not to improve governance but as tools of patronage to accommodate GNU parties. ActionSA is taking this fight against unnecessary waste further with our Enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill, aimed at slashing the excessive costs of one of the world’s largest Cabinets and finally bringing transparency and accountability to the secretive Ministerial Handbook.
ActionSA will await the feedback of the President, his party, and his GNU coalition partners as they study this important legislative effort, and looks forward to their support for the bill, which aligns with their stated desire for a smaller, more efficient Cabinet saving taxpayers R1.5 billion every year.