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Six NRIs appointed in the South African's new cabinet
Pravin Gordhan as finance minister and Ebrahim Patel as minister of economic affairs.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. May 10, 2009
Rupa Aggarwal

Six NRIs have been appointed in the South African's new cabinet by new President Jacob Zuma. The new President was sworn in on Saturday. He announced the new National Planning Commission which will be run by Trevor Manuel. Manuel had been the finance minister for 13 years and now replaced by NRI Pravin Gordhan. The National Planning Commission will be responsible for strategic planning for the country to ensure one national plan to which all spheres of government would adhere.

The new cabinet will be sworn in on Monday. Sunday 10 May 2009

The NRIs in the over 40-member cabinet are:

  1. Pravin Gordhan, to serve as the country's new finance minister. Pravin has been commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) since 1999, even he was not MP. .....Read
  2. Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development.
    • He was general secretary of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union and labour activist who has also led many local and international labour initiatives. ..........Read
  3. Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
  4. Roy Padaychee, Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration.
  5. Enver Surty, Deputy Minister of Basic Educatio.
  6. Yunus Carrim, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs.

In previous cabinet of Thabo Mbeki, there were only two NRI leaders inthe cabinet.

The new President Jacob Zuma, during his inaugural speech on Saturday, said the foundations of our economy are strong and we will need to continue to build on them.This will require more hard work than ever before. The new President Jacob Zuma siad:

  • We reiterate that we will not tolerate laziness and incompetence and that we will emphasize excellence and achievement from the cabinet and the public service.
  • I campaigned hard on a pro-poor platform promising change and a renewed focus on service delivery warned civil servants that “the era of hard work has begun.
  • His new cabinet, inflated to 34 ministers and 28 deputy ministers.
  • With these objectives in mind, I am confident that the new structures of government will enable the state machinery to speed up service delivery
  • I am appointing Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus, as deputy minister of agriculture. As we said all the time in ANC, we are very embracive in terms of cooperating with other political parties because white Afrikaans farmers have complained their views are not heard by government.
  • Zuma named the head of one of the smaller white minority parties, Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus, as deputy minister of agriculture. Many white Afrikaans farmers have complained their views are not heard by government.
  • The strategic planning body would “enable us to take a more comprehensive view of socio-economic development in the country.

Zuma led the party to a 66% victory in general elections on April 22, 2009