President Jacob Zuma has defended the size and cost of his new administration, saying the changes have been made to meet the growing needs of the country.
Zuma also came out in defence of the ANC after he was taken to task for the perception that the government was being run from Luthuli House.
Responding to DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip's warning that the expanded administration was costly and would create an even more bloated public service, Zuma said the size of government should not be relevant if the state was to meet all its development goals.
"The changes we have made to the configuration of departments are guided by the need to improve service delivery, and to correct weaknesses that the people identified.
"We have done so fully aware of the financial implications of our decision, and mindful of the constraints that the economic downturn has placed on public finances," he said.
Zuma's new administration has created new ministries and split others. A new women, youth, and people disabilities ministry were created along with a planning commission and a monitoring, performance and evaluation unit - both based in the presidency.
Education has been split into two, and now has a basic and higher-education component. The former minerals and energy department has been separated into a component that deals with mining, and another one that focuses on energy.
Zuma said the financial implications of the new government structure were taken into account before it was formulated. He said the programmes outlined in his State of the Nation address required this sort of intervention and the expenses that accompanied it.
"But the costs of these programmes are negligible when compared to the costs to our society of not implementing them. The cost of educating our people or ensuring access to health care is nothing compared to the cost of not doing so," he said.
Zuma agreed with Trollip, who had warned that an over-reliance on consultants by government departments could result in the creation of a dual public service. Zuma said the employment of consultants would be monitored.
"We will watch the trends very closely to ensure that senior managers do not over-use consultants, especially since they are employed on the basis of the expertise they profess to have," he said.
But he was quick to defend the ANC against accusations that it was dominating the government and that decisions that should be taken at the Union Buildings were now being taken at Luthuli House.
Zuma reminded critics that South Africans had voted overwhelmingly for the ANC in the April 22 elections, and that the ruling party could not take a back seat.
"(The ANC) must perform its own oversight functions to ensure that the government it formed stays true to its mandate. It owes that to the electorate of this country," he said.