The hunt is on for five “capable” women and one man to serve in Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s cabinet.
The Dispatch can reveal that among the pool of potential female candidates are former OR Tambo Mayor Nomakhosazana Meth and former Buffalo City Metro councillor Sindiswa Gomba as well as the South African Communist Party’s Fezeka Nkomonye-Bayeni, the ANC Youth League’s Siphokazi Mhani-Lusithi, and former Nelson Mandela councillor Babalwa Lobishe.
The ANC national executive council gave a clear directive to all male premiers to ensure that 60% of their cabinet are women, and that all speakers of legislatures are also women.
The ANC’s provincial deployment committee (PDC) has already met one of these requirements by assigning former health MEC Helen Sauls-August to take over as the speaker of the Bhisho legislature.
Mabuyane told the Daily Dispatch that he was busy consulting the ANC’s alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP, “before I can present the recommended names to the deployment committee on Sunday and Monday.
“But that will be after the top five officials have made their contribution, and the provincial executive committee has also given its stamp of approval,” said Mabuyane.
Once the PDC does its checks and balances, Mabuyane will present the names to ANC leaders in Luthuli House to check if the required gender quota has been met, and whether young people have also been represented.
The Dispatch can also reveal that the Eastern Cape cabinet will only be announced on Wednesday, a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to announce his cabinet.
Mabuyane said this would give enough space to allocate MECs in line with Ramaphosa’s plan of re-aligning some departments.
“We are in no position to say who goes where up until we know how the departments would be reconfigured,” said Mabuyane. “We will then take tune from what happens at national level.”
If the province retains the 10 departments, deputy chairperson Mlungisi Mvoko, treasurer Babalo Madikizela as well as PEC member Xolile Nqatha will remain in the executive while fellow PEC member Weziwe Tikana is also likely to stay on.
For the sole additional male cabinet member the deployment committee has the headache of choosing among three names – former chief whip Fundile Gade and former ANCYL leaders Mziwonke Ndabeni and Thabo Matiwane.
Asked about who his MECs will be, Mabuyane said: “It will be mischievous of me to talk about names when we are still consulting the alliance, PDC and the NEC. Wait for Wednesday.”..