The South African Medical Association (SAMA) said that if President Cyril Ramaphosa were to slash the size of his cabinet, the money saved could employ another 4 000 health workers.
Reducing the cabinet from 30 to 15 ministers could save R5bn a year, SAMA said citing research by the DA.
Ministers in the new cabinet will earn R2.69m a year – and be entitled to perks including free accommodation, vehicles and bodyguards – while deputy ministers will earn R2.2m a year and receive similar benefits, reports BusinessLIVE.
“Our nation is facing significant health challenges, including a shortage of medical doctors, a healthcare infrastructure that is collapsing, and insufficient medical supplies. These are worsened by budget constraints that limit our capacity to respond effectively,” SAMA said.
A leaner cabinet would free up money to hire more doctors and nurses, ensure hospitals and clinics were properly equipped, and fund programmes to prevent disease and reduce the future burden on the health system, the organisation added.
Last week the Centre for Development Enterprise (CDE) urged Ramaphosa to cut the cabinet to 20, saying a smaller cabinet would be more agile, collegial and accountable.
“We are alive to the political reality of a potential coalition government and the need for the president to accommodate various parties in his cabinet. However, we believe — even with this constraint — it is possible to reduce the number of cabinet ministers,” CDE executive director Ann Bernstein said at the time.
The think-tank proposed streamlining the economic cluster, leaving the finance ministry intact but merging three others to make a single ministry of the economy – comprising trade, industry and competition, tourism, and mining.
Transport, infrastructure and communications & digital technologies should be combined into a single ministry, energy and the environment would be merged, and the ministers of electricity, public enterprise and small business should be scrapped it said.
It also suggested getting rid of the minister in the presidency responsible for women, children and people with disabilities and making this a function of all relevant departments.
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