By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
27 July 2025- Action SA has gazetted its Notice to introduce the Constitution Twenty-Second Amendment Bill which, if passed, would represent the most significant overhaul of the bloated Executive of 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
Action SA said this Amendment follows a series of governance failures.
Action SA Parliamentary Leader and Member of Parliament (MP), Athol Trollip said the latest being President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to place the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu on “special leave” amid allegations of interference in police investigations and ties to criminal elements. Trollip said in response, Ramaphosa announced that Prof Firoz Cachalia, currently a non-MP and non-Minister, would be appointed as acting Minister of Police.
“Thus surpassing the two current police Deputy Ministers. However, until Cachalia is formally sworn in under Sections 91(3) and 95 of the Constitution, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe is presiding over the police portfolio in an acting capacity.
“This is in addition to other questionable ministerial appointments, such as that of Thembi Simelane, who was implicated in the VBS corruption scandal and yet was appointed as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development before a late-night portfolio swap with Mmamoloko Kubayi, then Minister of Human Settlements,” said he said.
Trollip said they have called lid criminal charges against Simelane. He said this exposes serious structural flaws in the current constitutional framework.
“Firstly, Deputy Ministers are not constitutionally empowered to act in the absence of their Ministers, rendering them useless in moments of executive disruption. If Deputy Ministers cannot step in during a crisis, what purpose do they serve beyond being instruments of cadre deployment and financial waste?
“Secondly, the President’s unfettered prerogative to appoint and dismiss ministers without any form of parliamentary oversight results in questionable appointments that escape proper scrutiny,” said Trollip.
He said given that Ministers occupy positions of significant power and influence within the Republic, a higher standard of accountability and transparency must necessarily be applied to their selection with the ability of parliament to also dismiss them.
The Guardian 