JOHANNESBURG - ANC veteran Mathews Phosa says government is severely bloated and inefficient and is calling for a massive downsizing across all levels of government.
Phosa has also called for tougher action against corruption and reforms to the police service.
“Have you ever thought about how many Cabinet ministers you have? Seventy. Which means out of 400 members of Parliament in the National Assembly, 18% are either ministers or deputy ministers.
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“Do you need that? Do you need a Cabinet of 70 people? I think you only need 20. Do you need the bloated administration? No, you don’t. You can concentrate these functions under fewer ministers and make them run them efficiently.”
The former Mpumalanga premier says the same approach should be applied at provincial and local government level.
“It must cascade. In my view, there should actually be fewer provinces, fewer blue lights and restructured municipalities, so it’s not heavily bureaucratically loaded.
“But one thing you need to do, because now you know where the skelms are, you’ve got to not hesitate to deal with that.”