GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
Unite for Change* Leadership Council Member and GOOD Secretary-General
3 December 2025
Parliament’s approval of a new structure to oversee the Presidency and hold it accountable is an important handbrake on unfettered power.
For the past 25 years, the Presidency has accumulated more, and more power, housing an increasing number of key agencies and programmes without a parliamentary mechanism to maintain oversight.
The establishment of an oversight committee was recommended by the Zondo Commission as a response to the outright abuses of office during the state capture period.
Since then, under President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Presidency has carried on centralising power. It presently houses the political leadership of the State Security Agency, Government Communications and Information Systems, and the Departments of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, as well as Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation.
It was an obvious weakness in the country’s oversight system that the budgeting and policy development of the most powerful office in the land was not accountable to any parliamentary committee.
The GOOD Party, therefore, welcomes the establishment of the oversight committee and applauds the opposition parties that have been pushing for this outcome.
Accountable leaders should lead by example; the new structure will help the Presidency to do just that.