The anticipated Cabinet reshuffle has again raised questions about the ministerial and deputy ministerial performance agreement, which is supposed to guide President Cyril Ramaphosa to choose the best person for the job. Is the agreement taken seriously by the president and the government, or is party politics bigger? Ramaphosa took some time to implement performance contracts after he was elected president of the ANC in 2017. Most of the agreements show that they were signed in 2019. Some, such as Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, are five years old and must be implemented. for next year’s review….
The anticipated Cabinet reshuffle has once again called into question the ministerial and deputy ministerial performance agreements, which are supposed to guide President Cyril Ramaphosa to choose the best person for the job.
Is the agreement taken seriously by the president and the government, or is party politics bigger?
Ramaphosa took some time to implement performance contracts after his election as ANC president in 2017. Most of the agreements indicate that they will be signed in 2019.
Some of them, such as Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe, are five years old and will be reviewed next year.
Minister of Agriculture and Land Use Thoko Didiza covers March 2020 to April 2021. It is not clear whether his review is complete or what the results will be.
What is the purpose of the agreement?
Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma was the one who introduced the system, but not much information is available about the assessment process and the results under the former president.
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Professor Siphamandla Zondi, director of the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan African Thought and Dialogue, said the performance agreement was to send a message that the ANC took political governance seriously.
“The ANC recognizes that it faces a dangerous association between the brand and materialism and corruption. It also wants to reject the growing perception that the deployment of cadres is about incompetence, patronage, and nepotism.
“But when the signing of the agreement was also announced to confirm that a step was taken, whether it was used in a useful way to focus the minister on the target and to measure his expertise is not clear. If there is a review, it will be done privately. How thorough and true, we will never know,” said Zondi.
Ramaphosa is just ‘checkered’
Spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance (DA). Solly Malatsi said it is well known that the president of the ANC reshuffles the Cabinet to reward those in the party who support the election, instead of basing the decision on performance.
The agreement was just a “ticked box” for Ramaphosa, he added.
“When the President launched the performance agreement, he said the aim was to improve governance and performance, but so far, not a single minister has been punished for under-delivering and failing to meet targets.
“Some of them won’t be in that position when there’s an evaluation, so what do you evaluate?” he asked.
In the parliamentary question for Ramaphosa in November last year, Malatsi asked whether the president would take action against the underperforming ministers in view of the lack of improvement in wasteful, irregular and fruitless expenditure as detailed in the department’s annual report and that of the Auditor-General.
He said mismanagement and expenditure continued every year despite agreed targets and agreement on performance standards.
Ramaphosa replied: “The Performance Agreement we entered into with Ministers includes, among other things, targets to reduce wasteful, wasteful and irregular expenditure by 2024.
“Progress towards achieving this 2024 target, therefore, forms part of the Minister’s performance evaluation and will be one of the factors considered when determining the appropriate measures.”
Ministerial appointments ‘not about competence’
According to Zondi, there is no attempt to show that the signed agreement makes a difference in public services.
He said the collapse of true governance, as seen in the botched Giyani water project costing billions of Rands with nothing to show for it, the loss of railways due to free criminal syndicates and the burden of Eskom would be evidence of the deal. has not been respected.
“What action is taken when the target is not met, we do not know. I think the ANC and President Ramaphosa have promised that they should not make it in the first place, because the decision about who becomes a minister is not about technical competence but other political considerations – including uniting the ANC, avoiding isolate certain. factions and to reward loyalty.”
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There is no accountability in the ANC
National Freedom Party (NFP) spokesperson Canaan Mdletshe said there was no accountability in the ANC.
“Since the beginning of President Ramaphosa’s tenure, ineffective and inefficient ministers such as Gwede Mantashe and Pravin Gordhan have literally plunged our country into darkness and they got away with it because no one was held accountable.
“In fact, there is no performance agreement for ministers, making them super-appointees. Our executives are there to make up numbers and fill their pockets, because no matter how poor they are, they cannot be held accountable until the end of the term.
He called on Ramaphosa to evaluate all ministers and their deputies annually and make the findings public for taxpayers to evaluate themselves.
Mercy Mhlaulithe spokesperson of the Department of Monitoring, Planning and Evaluation, which is responsible for performance contracts, directs all questions to the Presidency.
In response to questions, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the performance process is the ambit of the president and no one else.
“Treaty management and performance assessment remain within the scope of employers and employees. Cabinet appointments are the prerogative of the President,” he said in a written reply.