The Democratic Alliance (DA) yesterday released its Cabinet report card and said former communications minister Roy Padayachie's commitment to delivering affordable and accessible ICT services to all South Africans proved questionable.
In compiling the report card, the DA chose to appraise ministers according to the portfolios they held up until the October Cabinet reshuffle.
”Any school class has star students, pupils who've shown improvement and poor performers. Cabinet's class of 2011 is no different,” says DA Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.
Ministers were graded from an “A” to an “F”, according to four broad criteria. These are direction; attitude; attendance at Parliamentary sittings and portfolio committee meetings; and organisational skills.
“Overall, the combined Cabinet just missed an average score of a D, or 50%. There is clearly much work to be done. This applies in particular to president Jacob Zuma, who received an F,” says Mazibuko.
She adds that of the 29 ministers who were in the same Cabinet positions this time last year, 15 either kept the same score or improved their grade this year.
Transparency commitment
The official opposition says Padayachie's single year as communications minister did not give him much time to make a meaningful impact.
“However... the minister's commitment to delivering affordable and accessible ICT services to all South Africans was questioned following his department's decision to opt for more expensive converters in the digital migration programme.”
While Padayachie displayed a commitment to transparency and responsiveness, his attendance at portfolio committee meetings was poor, according to the DA.
“Administration of this department has in some cases been poor, particularly with regard to irregular and wasteful expenditure.
“Additional examples include that the department left 33.2% of its budget unspent in 2010/11, it had a high vacancy rate (28.6% as at 31 March 2011), and had a large number of employees serving in senior positions in an acting capacity.”
Overall, the report card says Padayachie did well with the problematic department he inherited, but he scored a D.
“His move to the Public Service and Administration Department will hopefully herald positive improvements for that department. His successor, Dina Pule, needs to consolidate the department's policy direction.”
Top leader
”The class of 2011's top performer this year was minister of science and technology Naledi Pandor, who scored an A,” says Mazibuko.
The minister's biggest achievement has been her dedicated lobbying for SA to host the prestigious Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope.
Winning the bid will establish SA as a leader in innovation, science and technology, and will have numerous enterprise and job-creation spinoffs.
“If SA is chosen to host this cutting-edge international science project, then much of the credit will go to minister Pandor for her enthusiasm, dedication and hard work in selling our bid to the world,” says the DA.
Mazibuko adds that despite a heavy travelling schedule to market the SKA, Pandor has managed to be one of the most regular Cabinet attendees in the National Assembly.
“Minister Pandor is one of the hardest working cabinet ministers. Her ability to balance the demands of her department with her obligations to Parliament should be applauded.”
The DA also says Pandor maintains a commendable hands-off approach to the management of the science entities that report to her department.
It adds that currently, the department suffers from trying to achieve too much with insufficient resources.
“However, the minister has persuaded treasury to commit to boost the science and technology budget by 9.5% a year for the mid-term period, to support business innovation with potential growth and employment creation. This is a great achievement.”
E-toll fail
Transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele scored an F on the report card.
This is because the R23 billion Dedicated Road Fund (S'hamba Sonke) has not materialised in the manner envisaged, according to the DA.
It adds that the minister lacks a coherent vision for his department and the road maintenance backlog is now sitting at R149 billion.
“The 'stop-go' approach to the costly Gauteng tolling project clearly shows the minister is not in control of his portfolio.
“Only after a massive public outcry across all sectors of society has the minister acted decisively, leaving it possibly too late to amend Phase 1 of the project.”
For these reasons, the official opposition party says Ndebele has been largely ineffectual and needs to be replaced with an efficient minister who can actually do the job.
Fighting corruption
The turnaround strategy for the State IT Agency was bearing fruit under the leadership of public service and administration minister Richard Baloyi.
The DA says, however, that while he spent a lot of time preparing for a fight against corruption, he never actually did any fighting, and so he scored a D.
“The promised amendments to the Ministerial Handbook have still not been made public.”
Problematic ban
Labour minister Nelisiwe Oliphant scored an E on the report card.
“The minister seems incapable of doing anything constructive about our jobs crisis,” says the DA.
It adds that the draft legislation the minister is trying to push through will only constrain job creation further by banning labour brokers and by making hiring and firing procedures even more difficult.
Oliphant has done well by managing to achieve the department's first unqualified audit in years.
“However, the Compensation Fund is still in a relatively chaotic state,” according to the official opposition party.
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