Cabinet meeting, March 2019 – Photo: GCIS/Flickr
Cabinet meeting, March 2019 – Photo: GCIS/Flickr
The DA have been conducting some rather intriguing work this week. In fact, one could argue that John Steenhuisen is doing Cyril Ramaphosa’s job for him. The opposition leader has dug-up the performance agreements all ANC ministers signed up to back in 2020 – and the results are shocking.
Steenhuisen, who will lead the DA into a Parliamentary motion of no confidence against the entire Cabinet next week, says the best metric to prove that ministers aren’t fit for purpose is the targets set down by the president almost two years ago. For him, these agreements reveal ‘a serious underperformance’ in government.
“There is a wealth of objective, quantifiable evidence to show that every single minister in this cabinet has failed to do their job and has contributed to the demise of our economy and the suffering of South Africans. At the heart of this evidence is the set of performance agreements signed by each minister in October 2020.”
“Under pressure for the ongoing lack of accountability in his government, President Ramaphosa announced almost three years ago, at the start of South Africa’s sixth Parliament, that he would rectify this by introducing performance agreements for every member of his cabinet. Seventeen months later, nothing further has happened.”
John Steenhuisen
These agreements are publicly available, for all 28 ministers. They detail the tasks and objectives that have been delegated to each Cabinet member – and the rate of achievement remains extremely low.
Just 32% of all targets assigned to the Cabinet have actually been completed. Only three ministers scored above 50%. Even then, some of the tasks that were delegated can be as simple as submitting a report, or attending an event. Bheki Cele, for example, has the highest rate of achievement with 56%.
But the Police Minister is still accused of only completing the easiest available targets. Nonetheless, the bottom of the barrel is in a sorry-looking state. Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and Water & Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu BOTH completed just 8% of their performance targets.
Fikile Mbalula, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, and Mondli Gungubele complete the bottom five, and there are also dishonourable mentions for Thulas Nxesi, Patricia de Lille, and Lindiwe Sisulu.
You can see a list of the worst 10 performers here, as compiled by the DA:
"Only 3 ministers achieved 50% or more of their targets – the highest being 56%. The lowest score was a paltry 8% of targets achieved. Ramaphosa's ministers are shielded from all accountability." – @jsteenhuisen #CabinetMustGo pic.twitter.com/A3a5FtjCct
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) March 24, 2022