Solly Malatsi appointed as South Africa's new communications minister

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Solly Malatsi as the country's minister of communications and digital technologies.

A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Malatsi is the first minister of communications in South Africa's democratic era who is not a member of the African National Congress (ANC).

Ramaphosa announced Malatsi's appointment on Sunday evening, adding that the incumbent minister, ANC's Mondli Gungubele, will become Malatsi's deputy.

Malatsi is part of a list of new members of the national executive for the country's seventh administration, which is inclusive of all the parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

In his address, Ramaphosa said 11 parties agreed to be part of the GNU in parliament.

These include the ANC, DA, Patriotic Alliance (PA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Good Party, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), Freedom Front Plus (FFP), United Democratic Movement (UDM), Al Jama-ah, Rise Mzansi and the United Africans Transformation.

South Africa Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele. (Source: GovernmentZA on Flickr via CC 2.0)

He further added that he decided to make certain changes to national government portfolios, given the country's challenges and the electoral mandate the government must implement.

"In the course of the sixth democratic administration, we indicated our intention to reduce the number of portfolios in the national executive. However, due to the need to ensure the national executive is inclusive of all the parties to the GNU, this has not been possible," he explained.

DA rallies behind GNU

Malatsi has been a member South Africa's National Assembly since May 2014. He has served in the national leadership of the DA as deputy federal chairperson since 2023.

"The DA is proud to rise to the challenge, and take our place, for the very first time, at the seat of national government, where we can introduce our track record of governance excellence, zero tolerance for corruption, and pragmatic policy making based on outcome and not intent," the party said in a statement.

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The party said the mission to create an open opportunity society for all South Africans is now its sole focus.

"We look forward to being part of a new era in SA's democratic journey, and bringing real and tangible change to the millions of citizens who voted for it," the DA added.

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*Top image is of South Africa Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi. (Source: South African government.)

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa