First cabinet of Jacob Zuma

Following his election as President of South Africa in the 2009 general election, Jacob Zuma announced his first cabinet on 10 May 2009. There were a total of 34 ministerial portfolios in the cabinet.

After the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority in the April 2009 general election, Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as President of South Africa on 9 May 2009 and announced his cabinet the following day. His cabinet announcement outlined several changes to the structure of the cabinet:

In addition to these structural changes, six other ministries had new names: the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans (formerly the Ministry of Defence), the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (formerly Foreign Affairs), the Ministry of Human Settlements (Housing), the Ministry of State Security (Intelligence), the Ministry of Police (Safety and Security), and the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Provincial and Local Government).

All of the ministers appointed by Zuma were members of his political party, the ANC.

On 31 October 2010, President Zuma announced his first cabinet reshuffle, a major reshuffle in which seven ministers were sacked and two others were reassigned. In a second reshuffle less than a year later, on 24 October 2011, two ministers were removed and two others were reassigned to new portfolios; the dismissed ministers were Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Sicelo Shiceka, both of whom had been implicated in misconduct by the Public Protector.

On 12 June 2012, Zuma announced his third reshuffle, occasioned by the death of Minister Roy Padayachie. The reshuffle affected ministers in four portfolios. On 3 October 2012, Zuma announced a further, minor reshuffle, this time occasioned by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's election as chairperson of the African Union Commission; the reshuffle affected only two portfolios.

In a final reshuffle on 9 July 2013, Zuma fired three ministers: Dina Pule, Tokyo Sexwale, and Richard Baloyi. They were replaced by Yunus Carrim, Connie September, and Lech Tsenoli, respectively, and two other ministers – Ben Martins and Dipuo Peters – swopped portfolios.

Although deputy ministers are not members of the cabinet, they are appointed by the president and assist cabinet ministers in the execution of their duties. During the term of Zuma's second cabinet, the deputy ministers were, like the cabinet, appointed on 10 May 2009; they included one opposition politician, Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus. The allocation of deputy ministerial positions was affected by four of Zuma's five cabinet reshuffles: 17 portfolios were affected by the 31 October 2010 reshuffle (including the portfolio of former deputy minister Molefi Sefularo, who had died), six by the October 2011 reshuffle, five by the June 2012 reshuffle (including the portfolio of former deputy minister Enoch Godongwana, who had resigned amid a fraud scandal), and four by the July 2013 reshuffle.