Template talk:SA cabinet table

Listing agencies, commissions, SOCs, etc. with the Departments
I think this table is becoming cluttered with redundant information. Take the example of the Science and Technology portfolio - is it really necessary to list the CSIR, HSRC and SANSA in addition to the Department itself? These entities are under the Department of Science and Technology - listing them separately creates the impression that they are separate from the Department and also "equal in rank" to the Department itself. Such entities (ACSA, SABC, ICASA, SANRAL, Armscor, Post Office, Sentech, Denel, etc) operate under the authority of the respective Departments. Many are actually state owned companies that are in fact under the Public Enterprises Department and not under the apparent "functional" Departments. The list should be trimmed down to only the actual Department(s) under each of the Ministries. Subsidiary entities are discussed in the articles about the Departments and many have their own articles. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:53, 26 May 2014 (UTC)


 * I agree. Most of these bodies are under one department or another and report to the minister through the department. The only non-departmental bodies that should be included are those which are not part of any department and report directly to the minister; they are listed in Schedule 1 of the Public Service Act along with the departments. Those bodies are:
 * Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)
 * Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)
 * National School of Government
 * National Treasury (which is actually a department, just not named as such)
 * Office of the Chief Justice (which we leave out because it reports, naturally, to the Chief Justice and not to the executive)
 * Office of the Public Service Commission
 * South African National Academy of Intelligence
 * Sport and Recreation South Africa (which is actually a department, just not named as such)
 * State Security Agency
 * Statistics South Africa
 * The Presidency
 * Everything else is subordinate to some department or other. - htonl (talk) 12:16, 26 May 2014 (UTC)


 * htonl - Another template Template:SA Government departments needs a similar cleanup - as well to be removed from the respective articles. It seems as if User:Sylvie Liliane du Pont does not grasp the fundamental differences between subordinate bodies, independent agencies, chapter nine institutions (answerable only to the constitution), and state owned companies. The SOCs are not part of the government/civil service at all, they are for-profit entities controlled by independent boards along "normal" corporate lines. The state's interest is only that it is the sole/majority shareholder. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:34, 26 May 2014 (UTC)