In with the New: Meet the Cabinet of Change

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new members of the National Executive for the seventh administration on Sunday, 30 June 2024. The cabinet includes representatives from parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

The GNU comprises the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Patriotic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Good Party, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement, Al Jama-ah, Rise Mzansi, and United Africans Transformation.

The newly appointed ministers were sworn in on Wednesday morning.

Get to know your cabinet minister as they take an oath of office.

Below is a list of the ministers and the portfolios they hold.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni from the African National Congress (ANC) returns as Minister in the Presidency.

She was previously minister of Communications and Digital Technologies from 2021 to 2023. 

Ntshavheni also previously held the position of minister of Small Business Development from 2019 to 2021.

Mzamo Buthelezi from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is the Minister of Public Service and Administration. 

He also serves as the deputy president of the IFP.

Buthelezi's political career has seen him assume the position of mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. 

He served as a member of the KZN Provincial Legislature and was a member of the Economic Development and Finance Committees.

Dean Macpherson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) is the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure. 

He served his first full term in the National Assembly from 2014 to 2019 and was re-elected to the National Assembly on 8 May 2019 to begin his second term.

On the 27th of March 2021, he was elected as the Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal.

As a member of the opposition, Macpherson focused on Trade and Industry from 2014 to 2019.

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams of the ANC returns as the Minister of Small Business Development. Ndabeni-Abrahams is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NWC) of the ANC.

In 2022, the ministry gazetted the National Integrated Small Enterprise Development Plan, a 10-year strategic plan for supporting small businesses.

She was previously minister of Communications and Digital Technologies from 2018 to 2021.

Sisisi Tolashe of the ANC is Minister of Social Development.

Tolashe was mayor of Enoch Mgijima Local from 2018 to 2019 before returning to the National Assembly in the 2019 general election. 

She has been a member of the ANC NEC since December 2022. 

Tolashe was then elected as president of the ANC Women’s League in July 2023.

Previously Tolashe held the position of deputy minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities from March 2023 to June 2024.

Gayton McKenzie of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and president of the party is the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture.

McKenzie is a businessman, motivational speaker, author and former Executive Mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality.

Patricia De Lille, the founder and leader of the Good Party, returns as the Minister of Tourism.

After resigning as DA mayor in Cape Town in 2018, she was elected to Parliament in 2019.

De Lille was Good Party's Western Cape Premier candidate on 10 February 2019 and she has served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023.

Parks Tau of the ANC is the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.

Tau previously served as mayor of the City of Johannesburg and member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature where he served as MEC for Economic Development from December 2020 to October 2022.

He has been a Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs since March 2023 and a member of the National Assembly since February 2023.

By eAcademy Candidates Tshenolo Khaile and Sbongile Molambo and Georgia Cartwright.