Several well-known polititians from Limpopo were included in Pres Jacob Juma’s cabinet during the past week. According to observers, one of the biggest surprises came when Dr Aaron Motsoaledi was named as the new minister to head the Department of Health.

He will replace Ms Barbara Hogan, who has become the Minister of Public Enterprises. Hogan had replaced Manto Tshabalala Msimang, in former President Kgalema Motlanthe´s ad-ministration, when he took over the leadership from Pres Thabo Mbeki in September last year.

Motsoaledi has held the posts of MEC for Agriculture, Land and Environment, MEC for Education and MEC for Transport in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature.

He will have the major task of tackling South Africa´s high rate of HIV and AIDS infections and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment. Budget constraints at provincial level, lack of qualified staff in state hospitals and ensuring a decline in the rate of people infected with tubercu-losis are also expected to be on his list of priorities.

Motsoaledi would need to ensure that the government´s target to provide 80 percent of HIV-positive South Africans with treatment by 2011 is met.

Mr Collins Chabane has been announced as second Minister in the Presidency. He will head Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration in the Presidency, which will monitor and evaluate the performance of government in all three spheres.

Chabane was appointed in 2005 as Limpopo´s MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has been renamed and restructured to become the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. Announcing his Cabinet on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation would be much the same as the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane is to be the department´s new Minister, and there will be two Deputy Ministers, namely Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim and Sue van der Merwe. Ms van der Merwe had held the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs previously.

Mr Zuma said Ms Nkoana-Mashabane, who was a leader in the African National Congress, had been involved in the international affairs arena for some time. She previously held the post of MEC for Local Government and Housing in Limpopo and was South Africa´s former Ambassador to India.

Mrs Rejoice Mabudafhasi is still the Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, and a well-known figure in sports circles, and former Limpopo Director of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Dr Joe Phaahla, was appointed as the new Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform.