The executive branch of the national government of South Africa is divided into the cabinet and the civil service, as in the Westminster system. Public administration, the day-to-day implementation of legislation and policy, is managed by government departments (including state agencies with department status), which are usually headed by permanent civil servants with the title of director-general.
Each department also has a political head, a cabinet minister, who is appointed by the president and who has ultimate oversight over and political responsibility for that department. A ministerial portfolio often includes more than one department. Even when the relationship between ministers and departments is one-to-one, the ministry is not coterminous with the department: they are legislatively and operationally distinct. The ministry usually consists of the minister, one or more deputy ministers, and a small number of advisors and other ministerial staff. According to Section 85 of the Constitution, ultimate executive authority in South Africa is vested in the president and exercised by the cabinet.
The following list shows the departments as they have been since June 2019, when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a reconfiguration of departments.[1]
During the Government of National Unity (GNU) after the 1994 election, the Office of the Executive Deputy President and the Office of the Executive Deputy President from the Largest Minority Party were established as separate departments. The latter was abolished after the National Party pulled out of the GNU in 1996, and the former was abolished after the 1999 election which terminated the GNU.
The following is a list of former departments which were dissolved in mergers or divisions, especially during major restructurings in 2009 and 2019:
| Department of Education | Until 2009 | Minister of Education | Divided into the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2009. |
| 2009–2019 | Minister of Economic Development | Created in 2009, and merged with the Department of Trade and Industry in 2019 to create the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.[2] | |
| Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services | 2014–2019 | Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services | Created when split from the Department of Communications in 2014, and merged back into that department in 2019, creating the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies. |
| Department of Provincial and Local Government (until 2009)Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (2009) | Until 2009 | Minister of Provincial and Local GovernmentMinister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs | After being renamed briefly, divided in 2009 into the Department of Cooperative Governance and the Department of Traditional Affairs. |
| Finance | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Finance | Until 2000 | Minister of Finance | Merged to create the National Treasury in 2000. |
| Department of State Expenditure | Until 2000 | ||
| Arts, recreation, and science | |||
| Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology | Until 2004 | Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology | Divided into the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Science and Technology (later renamed the Department of Science and Innovation) in 2004. |
| Department of Arts and Culture | 2004–2019 | Minister of Arts and Culture | Merged to create the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture in 2019. |
| Department of Sport and Recreation | Until 2019 | Minister of Sport and Recreation | |
| Minerals and energy | |||
| 2009–2019 | Minister of Mineral Resources | Created when the Department of Minerals and Energy was divided in 2009, and merged again in 2019, creating the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. | |
| Department of Energy | 2009–2019 | Minister of Energy | |
| Environment, land, and agriculture | |||
| Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism | Until 2009 | Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism | Divided into the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Tourism in 2009. |
| Department of Water Affairs and Forestry | Until 2009 | Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry | Divided in 2009: the water section became the Department of Water Affairs (later renamed the Department of Water and Sanitation), and the forestry section merged with the Department of Agriculture to create the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. |
| Department of Agriculture | Until 2009 | Minister of Agriculture | Merged with the forestry section of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and the fisheries section of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 2009, to create the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. |
| Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | 2009–2019 | Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | Divided in 2019: one section merged with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to become the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; the other merged with the Department of Environmental Affairs to become the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. |
| 2009–2019 | Minister of Environmental Affairs | Merged with the forestry and fisheries section of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2019, creating the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. | |
| Department of Land Affairs (Until 2009)Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (2009–2019) | Until 2019 | Minister of Land AffairsMinister of Rural Development and Land Reform | Merged with the agriculture section of the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2019, creating the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. |
| Intelligence | |||
| National Intelligence Agency | Until 2009 | Minister of Intelligence Services | Merged in 2009 to create the State Security Agency. |
| South African Secret Service | |||
| South African National Academy of Intelligence | |||
Presidents may also create new departments. In 2009, the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (later the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities) with Disabilities was created. Later that year (after the Department of Defence had briefly been renamed the Department of Defence and Military Veterans), the Department of Military Veterans was created. And, in 2014, the Department of Small Business Development was created.