South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled his new Cabinet, which includes two Indian-origin leaders and 50 per cent women, making the country one of the world’s few gender-balanced governments.

The number of Cabinet Ministers has been cut from 36 to 28. Mr Ramaphosa led the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to victory in elections earlier this month with a majority of 57.5 per cent, the smallest since the party came to power 25 years ago. He took office last year after the ousting of Jacob Zuma, who had expanded the number of ministerial posts.

In a nationally-televised broadcast to announce the appointments, Mr Ramaphosa said, South Africans provided this administration with a clear mandate to accelerate inclusive economic growth, act with greater urgency to tackle poverty, improve government services, fight corruption and end state capture.

He said, to give effect to this mandate, there is a need of a capable, efficient and ethical government.

The two Indian-origin ministers who have been retained from the previous administration are Pravin Gordhan and Ebrahim Patel.