President Cyril Ramaphosa Has Chosen His Cabinet—and it's Gender Equal

Last night, South Africans sat with baited breath as they awaited President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of his new cabinet. Since the African National Congress (ANC) won this year's elections, Ramaphosa has been under pressure to rid the ruling party of its corruption with a cabinet of deserving politicians.

In a statement on social media by former Deputy-President of South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the current Executive Director of UN Women congratulated Ramaphosa on the selection of a gender equal cabinet, becoming one of 11 countries to do so. Having shrunk the cabinet considerably from 36 ministers to 28, half of them are women.

"Who's in and who's out?" was the question on every South African's mind last night. While Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Minister of Enterprises Pravin Gordhan remain in the newly selected cabinet, former Minister of Women Bathabile Dlamini and Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane are out (much to the relief of many).

However, perhaps what was an incredible plot twist (way better than the Game of Thrones finale) was the appointment of Patricia de Lille as the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure. Now, de Lille is not a member of the ruling ANC. In fact, she left the Democratic Alliance (or rather they pushed her to leave) and started her own political party last year—the Good Party.

Whilst the cabinet is usually made up of members of parliament in the ruling party, the president is allowed to call upon a member of parliament from another party whom he believes will best serve the people of the nation.