The tension between having ministers and equally senior people reporting directly to the president in similar roles has persisted throughout the four years of Cyril Ramaphosa's presidency. It's a risky game that the president is playing, writes Qaanitah Hunter.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected in 2018, he promised the "macro-reconfiguration of the state".
He told us of a grand plan of a leaner, more efficient state that would resemble a well run corporate.
Ramaphosa, with his private sector experience, promised to trim the bloated executive, fill vacancies and appoint people fit for purpose.
But like many of the Ramaphoric promises of 2018, Ramaphosa found himself between ANC patronage and a hard place - where he ditched his promises and appeased ANC factions.
He kept his executive relatively large and increased the number of deputy ministers who are glorified ribbon cutters by all accounts. Ramaphosa had to accommodate people across the political spectrum, and his vision for a reconfigured state was put on the back-burner.
This meant Ramaphosa could not reward all those loyal to him inside the ANC and out of it, and he had to make politically difficult decisions to cut Cabinet members from among his allies.
Direct report
Ramaphosa then began introducing a bizarre scheme where he would appoint allies as envoys reporting directly to him and with the support of the Union Buildings.
It happened under the facade of creating a capable state, but soon, it was exposed as a patronage tool.
Ramaphosa announced a raft of envoys, advisory panels and tasks teams, all reporting directly to him in areas cutting across government departments.
These advisory teams were separate to the eight advisors he is, by law, able to have alongside his chief of staff, Roshene Singh.
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He appointed advisory panels on just about anything, including a 10-member Presidential State-Owned Enterprises Council, a 13-member National Council on GBV and an 18-member Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
Lest we forget, he also appointed six investment envoys early on in his presidency, among others.
At first, when Ramaphosa announced these task teams and advisory panels, he was supported as it was seen as part of a bid to rebuild the state.
SOEs were in such a dire condition it was argued that any help was warranted.
Jobs for pals scheme
But in 2019, when Ramaphosa wanted to appoint Jeff Radebe, his brother-in-law, to be an energy envoy and Derek Hanekom to be a tourism envoy, when he was unable to find space for them in Cabinet, the lid was lifted on what this scheme really was.
Ramaphosa used discretionary, made up positions to reward his allies. In other words, it was a jobs-for-pals scheme.
As energy minister Gwede Mantashe said at the time, "what is the need for an envoy when you have a minister".
This tension between having ministers and equally senior people reporting directly to the president in similar roles has persisted throughout the four years of Ramaphosa's presidency.
Insiders said that at the core of this tension is the notion that the president dismisses his ministers and prefers to consult with technocrats in high-level decision making.
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"It is as if we are kids in his way that he must appease, but when the real decisions are made, it happens without us," lamented a Cabinet minister.
This minister, who obviously can't be named, spoke about how Ramaphosa's advisors usurped many ministerial functions while the technocrats in departments have realised that they can bypass ministers and consult directly with the president.
"You end up sitting and signing off on stupid things like an admin clerk. You don't brief your boss; those who report to you go and report to him directly," the minister complained.
It is pretty apparent that Ramaphosa has duplicated the functions of many departments and ministers in his office.
Made-up positions
The new appointments of Sipho Nkosi as a red-tape cutter in the presidency, Daniel Mminele as the head of the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team and Mavuso Msimang to review the country's visa regime has proven that Ramaphosa is distrustful of the administration he leads.
The legitimate question stands as to why Ramaphosa would not appoint these people as ministers, in line with his presidential prerogative, and instead makes up positions that would probably yield minimal results.
The last four years have shown us that despite the ambitions of these outsiders appointed to reform the broken state, the system is impervious to fixing.
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There's gossip in the Union Buildings about how when one man Ramaphosa had appointed, as one of his many advisors, showed up to work, he was not given an office.
He had no idea where to go or what to do. Getting a government-assigned laptop seemed an impossible feat.
Then, when the person had to travel with the president, there was back and forth over which department should be responsible for this person's travel.
The department to which his portfolio corresponded didn't want anything to do with him, and Ramaphosa's ministers blocked him from any meaningful work. The man stayed at home, and that was that.
Environment of instability
So while one is sympathetic to Ramaphosa's frustrations of having to implement reforms in a dysfunctional state, creating a parallel state does not yield tangible results.
Worse than that, Ramaphosa's undermining of his executive creates an environment of instability and lack of accountability where nothing gets done.
The consequences of this were on full display during the July unrest. As the report by Professor Sandy Africa and her peers confirmed, ministers did not get instructions from their boss; Ramaphosa took instructions from officials resulting in chaos where ministers began acting like officials.
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There are real consequences for this "state within a state" created by Ramaphosa, the foremost of which is the lack of responsibility when things go awry.
Ramaphosa is risking the state being further at loggerheads with itself by creating his super presidency.
Then, there's the danger of what happened in the Jacob Zuma era where the president's lieutenants became untouchable demigods who were laws unto themselves.
If Ramaphosa is not careful, the men and women he appoints into vague positions with no absolute authority will become a law onto themselves and use his name for bad.
In all of this chaos, accountability is non-existent, and service delivery is sacrificed - all while taxpayers fork out for bloated salaries.
- Qaanitah Hunter is News24's political editor.
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