Sitting in an immaculate office in Parliament, Thulas Nxesi is said to explain his plush decor mischievously: “I am the landlord.” Public works, he brags, holds a portfolio seven times the size of the country’s biggest private property company. The department owns...
Gugile Nkwinti’s department was characterised by large-scale policy confusion last year and extreme political pressure this year. This pressure has reached a tipping point and the policies – or, at least, the motives underpinning the policy positions – have become...
Science and technology minister Naledi Pandor is a golden child in the Cabinet class of 2015. In the Mail & Guardian, we write about South African science a lot, and it is not possible to write about science without mentioning the department of science and...
Ministers have two main jobs — to create space in their department for talented individuals to do their work, and to keep their own politics from spilling over into that department. Edna Molewa manages to tick both boxes. Environment affairs is, by budget, one of the...
Even her critics use phrases like “passionate” and “on the side of the people” to describe the minister of small business development, Lindiwe Zulu. This has not stopped a distinct air of disillusionment from developing towards her department. More than a year after...
