da cabinet report card 2015

7/24/2019 DA Cabinet Report Card 2015

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CABINET

REPORT

CARDS


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JACOB ZUMAPresident

This year will be remembered as the year that President Zuma

unashamedly put the ANC and himself above the needs of South

Africa the year that the President laughed while millions of South Africans

suffered as a result of stagnant economic growth, rising unemployment and

numerous other crises such as load-shedding, water shortages, endemic corruption

and rampant crime.

The President has been conspicuous in his absence and silence on issues of national

importance, failing to show leadership on the economy. The President has displayed a complete lack of empathy

for the challenges being faced by citizens. This is encapsulated by his failure to denounce the procurement of a

new luxury jet for his personal use, at a cost of up to R4 billion, while students protested against the exorbitant

cost of higher education and urgent relief is sought to cope with the drought.

This year President Zuma has excelled at one thing alone putting his personal needs above those of the people

he was elected to serve.

The President has set an example for this Cabinet that sees corruption and mismanagement go unpunished while

ANC members benefit from state resources at the expense of the poor.

His failure to hold members of the Executive to account for the events at Marikana, and the findings of the Public

Protector with regard to PRASA, echo his personal crusade to undermine our democratic institutions. His disdain

for our courts, as well as the Public Protector, is indicative of a President that believes himself to be above the

law.

In 2015, President Zuma has pushed his constitutional oath to breaking point in failing to obey the Constitution

and protect and promote the rights of all South Africans. The President:

Sanctioned the breaking of both international and domestic law when he allowed wanted war criminal

Omar al-Bashir to escape South Africa in June;

Blatantly ignored the remedial findings of the Public Protector in her report into the upgrades to hisprivate residence at Nkandla despite the Supreme Court of Appeal finding that this is unlawful;

Sat on the report by the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into Marikana, denying the victims justice and

compensation;

Remained silent in the National Assembly while students protested outside its doors against financial

exclusion at institutions of higher learning; and

Responded evasively and dismissively in Parliament; literally laughing at the notion of parliamentary

oversight.

President Zuma has failed South Africa on all accounts and done immeasurable damage to our economy and our

image abroad. Each year that passes with President Zuma at the helm our democracy is weaker and our futureless bright.

F-


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CYRIL RAMAPHOSADeputy President

The Deputy President has spent the largest part of 2015 playing

Mr Fix-it as he attempts to mitigate some of the largest failures of

President Zumas Cabinet; such as ailing parastatals and the disastrous,

job-killing visa regulations. His efforts have fallen short of bringing lasting

solutions with implementation remaining a major constraint.

In particular, the Deputy Presidents attempts to turn around Eskom have been

unsuccessful with load-shedding only having decreased in frequency as a result of

depressed demand and the billions that have been spent on diesel to fuel generators. The elusive Five-Point

Plan and War Room have not resulted in any substantive improvement in the situation.

In his role as Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Immigration Regulations, Ramaphosa facilitated

a relaxation of some of the more damaging measures but the implementation of the new regulations has

been slow. The damage to the tourism industry has already been done and jobs have already been lost.

Ramaphosas attendance in Parliament has been satisfactory, but his responses to both written and oral questions

have often been evasive. This is echoed in his lacklustre performance as Leader of Government Business where he

has allowed the Executive to get away with delayed and evasive answers to parliamentary questions. He has also

not succeeded in securing the attendance of Ministers in the House and in Committee. Insofar as this underminesParliaments oversight function, it is a major impairment to our democracy.

Ramaphosa can be lauded for his relatively firm stance on corruption and cronyism having recently taken a

commercial flight to Iran instead of making use of a Gupta-owned private jet. This is an example other members

of the Executive would do well to follow.

The Deputy President has been given the unenviable position of having to stand in for an inadequate President and

clean up the various messes created by an ineffective Cabinet. His position as Mr Fix-it will no doubt become

permanent as new crises arise and old ones fail to go away. His work is far from over.

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SENZANI ZOKWANAAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

The Minister has no clearly articulated vision for his department.

Rather than articulating a clear direction this department is characterised

by policy confusion; extra parliamentary posturing towards the elections

next year and public bullying of interest groups in the agriculture sector. It

carries over from election to election and is the reason land reform has failed.

The DA does not agree with an overly vague policy thrust in which state control and

state ownership are key building blocks. We do not agree with the financing model,

although positive developments can be discerned in terms of accountability. Traditional leaders are also being

pandered to at the expense of democratically elected bodies.

Parliament: attitude, attendance, and accountability:

The minister personally has not been embroiled in any scandals but opportunities for corruption are rife in his

department.

The Minister himself is not always in attendance at plenaries and portfolio committee meetings, however, a depu-

ty minister usually stands in for him. The Minister did, however, attend his oral question sessions which afforded

parliamentarians the opportunity to hold him to account.

The quality of written responses to parliamentary questions also requires improvement and can be described as

average at best.

Admin, finance and organisational skills:

Given the relationship between expenditure and targets (reasonable expenditure of allocated budget against poor

accomplishment of targets), as well as an overall lack of success in outcomes, his management of his department

is considered poor.

In addition, there are too many unresolved investigations in department where feedback is still outstanding. My

personal experience with regards to complaints lodged with his department, for example assisting farmers inWelkom, suggest that the Kings Writ does not go beyond the capital.

The bottom line/general comments:

Despite conveying a sense that he understands the underlying problems, the Minister fails to provide the kind

of long term policy framework that can solve land reform and does not stand up to the vested interests in the

ANC government and party that is required to achieve tangible success. His commitment to state ownership, as

opposed to the rapid expansion of private land ownership to the poor, is a historic failure. Rather than take the

hands of potential partners in civil society, he has damaged investor confidence and spread a sense of bad faith.

In addition, his delayed acknowledgement and response to the drought crisis crippling the agriculture sector will

permanently blemish his legacy.

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NATHI MTHETHWAArts and Culture

Policy direction:

On paper, the Departments vision aimed at overcoming the structural

consequences of apartheid and at building social cohesion through, among others,

the transformation of places and symbols is sound and is one with which the DA

concurs. However, Minister Nathi Mthethwa has, once again, failed to give cleardirection to his Department.

Despite the fact that the Official Languages Act 12 of 2012 was meant to be implemented by November 2014,

not all departments are in compliance with this Act and this remains an issue requiring the Ministers attention.

The Departments own internal language unit meant to coordinate the units within the different government

entities so that there is parity of esteem and equitable treatment of all official languages has, itself, not been

established according to the Act. The Language Practitioners Council, which is meant to promote and protect

language practice in South Africa, is not functioning adequately.

Parliament:

The Minister attended oral question sessions and responded adequately. However, his attendance in Parliament

was generally poor and he has been absent from all Portfolio Committee meetings except for two. It was

unacceptable that he did not attend the presentations of annual reports by the Department or those of the

Departmental annual performance plans, as well as the presentations on performance audit outcomes.


The Department received a qualified audit opinion and adherence to fiscal guidelines was not within the scope

expected, with most officials not being held responsible. For instance, the Department did not budget for the

Statue Park in Gauteng, which is already in the implementation phase. Additionally, there has not been proper

financial planning in respect of the costing of GRAP 103, the register of assets of museums and heritage sites.

A process like this should include both the evaluation of the assets and security upgrades for such assets in order

to protect them. The Minister has yet to bring the findings of the forensic audits in some departments, such as theWindybrow Theatre in Johannesburg and into the monies allocated for the upgrades to the Northern Cape Theatre

in Kimberley.

The Department has failed to implement measures to prevent irregular expenditures and to hold responsible

officials to account.

General comments:

The Ministers absence is attributed to running two ministries as he was seconded to the position of Minister

in the Presidency after the incumbent Collins Chabane passed away.

On the positive side, Moses Kotanes and JB Marks exhumations took place on 13 February 2015 in Moscow,Russia. Repatriation happened in February and reburials took place in March in the North West Province. The

Minister also held a national consultative forum on the removal of statues, where he reiterated governments

position in terms of the processes that must be followed when statues are being removed. The Minister showed

a willingness to act on recommendations of the Portfolio Committee, for instance, when he had to take action

against officials who were in dereliction of duty.

The Department also constructed 17 new libraries; upgraded 20 existing libraries and supported 22 national and

regional flagship events, including the National Arts Festival, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and a

range of regional festivals.

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ANGIE MOTSHEKGABasic Education

Policy direction:

With near-universal access to basic education having been achieved,

Minister Motshekga has correctly announced that the focus of her Department

will now be on the quality of education. This is to be welcomed given the failure

of our education system to prepare children adequately for the world of work.

The trends are very clear:

Most recently, and for the second year in a row, South Africa ranked last out of 140 countries

for the quality of mathematics and science education in the World Economic Froums Global

Competitiveness Report.

In the last Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in 2011, South Africa performed

third-worst in the world, ahead only of Honduras and Ghana.

The first National Education and Evaluation Unit (NEEDU) report found that South African childrens

reading skills are falling behind those of their international counterparts by the end of Grade 1.The Annual National Assessments show that by the end of Grade 3, only half of the learners are

effectively literate.

Most tragic of all is the persistence of inequality in South Africas education system. Approximately 25% of

children attend functional schools and perform reasonably in local and international tests, while the majority of

children, approximately 75%, attend dysfunctional schools and perform extremely poorly in international numeracy

and literacy benchmark tests. Less than 1 in 200 black children enrolled in grade 1 go on to pass matric and are

eligible for a mathematics or science degree at university.

The state has shown, especially in provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, that it is unable to

meaningfully improve the quality of schooling, especially for learners in disadvantaged communities. The DA

believes that education is a public good and therefore requires state involvement. We dont believe, however,that every aspect of education should be left to the state to deliver. Instead, we should be looking at ways in

which the private and non-profit sector can help the state to deliver quality schooling.

Attendance and attitude:

Minister Motshekga is one of the few Ministers with a real grasp of the detail of her portfolio. However, it gives

us no pleasure to report that the Minister missed two consecutive oral question sessions in Parliament this year.

It is also concerning that she chose to stay in Paris for a summit, even as news of an examinations crisis in

Limpopo was emerging.


The Department of Basic Education received an unqualified audit and met many of its targets. It is generally

a well-run department, let down by those provincial education departments that remain in disarray.

The bottom line:

If you confine the assessment to the efficiency of her department and her grasp of content, Minister Motshekga

is one of the better performing members of Cabinet.

The key problem is that the policy direction is wrong. The only way to improve education outcomes in

underperforming schools is to begin a process of education policy reform.

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FAITH MUTHAMBICommunications

Policy direction:

The Department of Communications main strategic objective is to provide

coherent, responsive and cost-effective communications between government

and the public. Minister Muthambi and her Departments performance in the year

under review has been neither of these.

This year, South Africa missed the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) deadline

to switch over to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting by June 17, 2015, a key process for providing

faster mobile broadband services and increasing the variety of television content for South African viewers.

South Africas DTT migration process has been marked with delays and unjustifiable political interference for over

a decade. Under Minister Muthambi this intensified, with a veil of secrecy placed around the placing of orders for

1.5 million Set-Top Boxes (STBs). The Minister has refused to provide full disclosure on the issuing of orders and

the process by which the suppliers were chosen to share the R4.3 billion so far earmarked for the manufacturing

of STBs.

Minister Muthambis biggest indictment is her interference in the affairs of the SABC, in contravention of the

Broadcasting Act and her unwavering support of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, an admitted fraudster who has singlehandedly cost the SABC tens of millions of rands and completely undermined public confidence and good

corporate governance.

In October 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeals found that Minister Muthambi had failed to exercise her executive

powers in an objective and rational manner when, instead of implementing the Public Protectors remedial action

for Hlaudi Motsoeneng to be suspended and disciplinary action instituted, she pressured the SABC board to

recommend his appointment as permanent Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the SABC, and then approved

his appointment within a single day.

With Motsoeneng at the helm of the SABCs operations, supported by Minister Muthambi, the public broadcaster

recorded losses close to half-a-billion rand this year. The SABC remains in troubled waters and will continue to do

so unless Motsoeneng is removed and good governance restored.


Minister Muthambi has attended meetings of the Portfolio Committee and plenaries with some regularity.

The quality of responses to written questions has, however, been rather poor.


While the Department of Communications attained an unqualified audit in the 2014/15 financial year, the

Auditor-General noted issues of leadership, internal control, irregular expenditure incurred in contravention

of key legislation and expenditure that should not have been incurred where no value for money was received.

The bottom line:

Minister Muthambis leadership of the Department has been an unmitigated disaster. She has sought to exert

control over the SABC, with the Board reduced to a rubber stamp, while South Africa missed the deadline for

Digital Migration. Hlaudi Motsoeneng was appointed as permanent COO in defiance of the Public Protector and,

without following due process, remedial action ordered by the Public Protector and Supreme Court of Appeals to

suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng and institute disciplinary action has not been yet implemented. The Department also

spent almost R600 000 on a nine-day trip to a luxury goods show and folk art festival in the United States. She

cannot be allowed to continue as Minister and scores an F- for FIRED.

f-


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PRAVIN GORDHANCooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Policy direction:

Since his appointment in May 2014, Minister Gordhan has initiated the

Back to Basics programme, an attempt to ensure that municipalities focus

on their core competencies. This initiative, while welcome and demonstrating a clear

focus on municipal function, is little more than a rehash of earlier programmes suchas Project Consolidate; the Local Government Turnaround Strategy; the Batho Pele

principles; and Operation Clean Audit 2014.

The Minister has utilised this as the basis for requesting the amalgamation of various failing municipalities.

This process has been steamrolled through the Municipal Demarcation Board (an entity falling under the Minister),

with scant regard for public participation or the many detailed and considered objections to the proposed

amalgamations. This has resulted in a legal battle (involving the DA) which may impact on the 2016 Local

Government Elections.

On the positive side, there has been more focus on unqualified senior officials in municipalities, and on the

numerous outstanding forensic audits, which municipalities have largely ignored until now. There has, however,

been little/no attention paid to the performance of provinces.

The introduction of the Traditional and KhoiSan Leadership Bill is an attempt to address the dysfunctional state of

traditional leadership in South Africa and to finally provide recognition to the KhoiSan communities. This, however,

is much delayed and muddies the water further due to the lack of clarity over the role and function of traditional

and KhoiSan leaders.

A lack of/delayed intervention into failing municipalities and provinces by the Minister and his colleagues at

provincial level has characterised this year of office.

Attitude and attendance:

The Minister and his deputies have attended relatively few Portfolio Committee meetings and are only occasionally

present in the House. Similarly, his response to Parliamentary questions has deteriorated over the past year. This isboth in terms of response time and the quality of such responses as he frequently dodges the question by stating

that the information is not readily available.

Overall, the Minister is not particularly visible and his attitude towards Parliament and its members is considered

disdainful at best.


The Department of Co-operative Governance achieved an unqualified audit, as did all of its reporting entities.

The municipal audit outcomes were less spectacular, however. Although there was an improvement on prior

years, the fact that that 42% of municipalities and municipal entities received qualified, adverse or disclaimed

audits, or failed to submit their financial statements at all, is of major concern. R11.47 billion was identifiedas irregular expenditure in the last financial year. In addition, fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to

R687 million over the same period and unauthorised expenditure amounted to R11.4 billion.

Neither the Minister nor his deputies are particularly good at acknowledging or replying to correspondence.

The bottom line/general comment:

Minister Gordhan has a relatively efficient Department, although the same cannot be said of the municipalities

and provinces for which he is accountable. The Minister has had a torrid time relating to his tenure as SARS

commissioner and Minister of Finance, where he oversaw the establishment of rogue spy units within SARS.

His performance as Minister of COGTA has not seen him cover himself with glory. The Ministers complete

disdain for other opinions and his frequent accusations of politicking and grandstanding every time thereis an attempt to hold him accountable for the many issues facing his Department, do him no favours. The aura

of efficiency, effectiveness and impartiality he wore as Minister of Finance has now worn off and he is now

singing for his supper like a multitude of other ANC cadres.

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NOSIVIWE MAPISA-NQAKULADefence and Military Veterans

Policy direction:

There is no policy coherence and clarity regarding South Africas defence and military

veteran policies and the Minister is reluctant to address the tough issues.

The Department of Military Veterans (DMV) has a huge viability, management andfunding challenge. The failure of the DMV to include all military veterans regardless

of which pre-1994 formation they belonged to remains unresolved. Currently the old

statutory forces such as the South African Defence Force and especially the old South African Cape Corp Military

Veterans members have received insubstantial benefits particularly in relation to the benefits the non-statutory

forces have received so far.

It is obvious that South Africa cannot afford the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) that the

Minister would like to have. Its obvious that the military objectives and projects should be reprioritised and

cut down where necessary to fit the financial ability and strategic priorities of South Africa.

The Defence Review Report and plans should be the guiding instruments for a resized and restructured SANDF.

However, it seems this is not being seriously considered despite the dilapidation of military assets, especially

military properties and essential services such as military medical support services.


The Minister has not appeared before the Committee since the start of the Fifth Parliament. There are questions

concerning governance and accountability in her Department which she has not been in Parliament to answer to.

The Minister did appear for oral questions. The content of written replies to Parliamentary questions certainly

lacked detail. Accountability and transparency are seriously lacking in respect of confidential activities and

procurement such as the current process to procure 3 VVIP aircraft at a cost of billions of rand, including the

possible Boeing 747-800 super jet for the President. Indeed, even the costs of the Presidents travel is hidden

behind a veil of alleged confidentiality.


The Defence budget is only 1.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to other SADC countries of up to

4% and other comparable countries of between 2.5% and 3.5% of GDP.

The Auditor-General has reported that leadership in both the departments are weak and there are concerns of

strategic performance and outcomes. There is serious doubt if the SANDF presence in Africa, as part of the Africa

Union and United Nations peace keeping forces, is viable in the long run. Operations are not properly funded and

SANDFs equipment is not suited for operations in African environments.

The priorities of the Department of Defence (DoD) seems to be to placate rather than to ensure the SANDF is up

to operational requirements. The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement proposed more money to compensationof staff and, despite the chronic underfunding for training flights and patrol hours at sea, no additional funds were

allocated for these purposes. The competencies of all South African Air Force pilots, especially those qualified to

command VVIP aircraft, are seriously compromised. Similarly, navy ships languish in docks rather than patrolling

the nations territorial waters and protecting our ocean economy.

Despite this underfunding of critical programmes, the DoD is continuing with the procurement of an unnecessary

additional VVIP jet aircraft for the President in particular.

This poor prioritisation means that Defence Review plans are not being funded, potentially leaving South Africa

vulnerable militarily.

The Auditor-General also had serious concerns with respect to the DMV, which received a qualified audit.


South Africa and its economy can clearly not afford the kind of SANDF the Minister would like to have. It can,

however, afford the SANDF South Africa needs, as set out in the Defence Review plans. However, this requires

prioritisation and funding cut-backs which the Minister seems unwilling to make.

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EBRAHIM PATELEconomic Development

Introduction:

Unfortunately, with growth plummeting to 1.6% and unemployment

hovering around 25%, Minister Patel and his Department have failed to

bolster local economic development.

Under Patels leadership, the Department has failed to accelerate job creation, promote

inclusive growth and provide economic policy coherence across government.

Policy direction:

The Departments guiding light in terms of policy is the New Growth Path (NGP) which seeks to strengthen and

expand the role of the state in the economy.

In several key respects, the NGP undermines and contradicts the National Development Plan (NDP), thus

compromising the Departments ability to co-ordinate economic policy and planning.

The Departments core mandate is to promote inclusive growth and facilitate and accelerate job creation

across the economy.

By any measure, it has failed miserably. The Departments 2014/15 Annual Report claims that employment

grew by 405 000 jobs between March 2014 and March 2015.

Yet, data released by Stats SA revealed that the formal sector haemorrhaged 161 000 jobs between the

second quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2015.

According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the number of people who were unemployed increased

by 321 000 from 4.9 million to 5.2 million in the first six months of 2015.

This means that the NDPs target of reducing unemployment to 14% by 2020 is becoming more and more of

a pipe dream with every passing quarter.

In the circumstances, with GDP growth contracting to a measly 1.6%, Minister Patels claim that in

2014/15 the Department made real contributions to supporting more inclusive growth rings especially hollow.

The Department also facilitated, and continues to monitor, the following Social Accords aimed at building

partnerships between business, organised labour, community representatives and government:

Basic Education Accord;

National Skills Accord;

Local Procurement Accord;

Green Economy Accord;

October 2012 Social Accord; and

Youth Employment Accord.

These Accords do not appear to have any significant bearing on policy direction or implementation.


In Parliament, Minister Patel regularly attends Portfolio Committee meetings and provides comprehensive,

well-informed briefings on matters within his purview. His attendance in the National Assembly is above average

for a Cabinet Minister and his answers to Parliamentary questions are generally timeous and straightforward.

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The Department performed well against its predetermined goals. All the Departments targets were met and

some were exceeded. However, it bears noting that the targets were not particularly ambitious.

The Department seems well managed and received an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General for

the 2014/15 financial year.

However, the Auditor-Generals findings on financial misstatement and non-adherence to the Supply Chain

Management processes on tax clearance needed to be addressed.

In 2014/15, employees were also appointed without following a proper process to verify the claims made in

their applications in contravention of Public Service Regulation 1/VII/D.8.


Some of the entities that report to the Department notably the competition authorities and the Industrial

Development Corporation (IDC) perform good work. However, one has to question the wisdom of the IDCs

move to construct a large $5 billion integrated steel plant in Mpumalanga, in partnership with the state-owned

Chinese steelmaker Hebei, given the current 600 million tonne global oversupply of steel.

Overall, the Department adds dubious value under Patels leadership. In particular, it undermines coherence

and consistency when it comes to economic policy and planning. In the interests of streamlined and effectivegovernment, the Department should be closed down.

Its Economic Planning and Co-ordination functions, including its secretariat support to the Presidential

Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, should be delegated to the National Planning Commission and its

secretariat. Moreover, its oversight of development finance institutions and economic regulators should be

redirected to DTI.

Assessment:

Overall, based on his performance, Minister Patel warrants a D grade.


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TINA JOEMAT-PETTERSSONEnergy

Policy direction:

Demystifying the complexities of South Africas energy policy is no easy

task. Seasoned observers and analysts regularly complain that it is not always

clear how and where energy policy is being made. The reason for this is that, while

the Department is ostensibly responsible for setting energy policy and planning, inreality it is subject to a range of formal and informal influences over many of its

decisions. These entities include; Eskom, the National Treasury, the Department of

Public Enterprises, Metropolitan and municipal governments, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Energy, various

Cabinet sub-committees and, in the last year, the War Room too.

It goes without saying that there is very little co-ordination between these various groups/groupings and that the

DoE finds itself being pulled in multiple policy directions at once.

Further complicating the DoEs predicament is rampant political interference by the ANC as it tries to ram its

nuclear agenda and subsequent R1 trillion nuclear build programme. This, despite the Departments own internal

plan indicating that nuclear is too costly and should be postponed and explored only as a last option.

Reflecting the ANCs nuke-heavy agenda, Cabinet rejected an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2013, whichcalled for the postponement of nuclear, and has continued to base its energy planning decisions on the incredibly

outdated and misleading IRP 2010. This is deeply troubling as the IRP is the main policy instrument in determining

SAs energy mix for the next 20 years. The DoE and government are therefore basing all their future energy

planning on a document with key assumptions on economic growth and electricity demand that just dont add up.

In the other critical areas of policy development the Department is also lacking. Critical policy that is yet to be

finalised includes:

The Integrated Energy Plan;

The Gas Utilisation Master Plan;

The Gas Amendment Bill;

The Biofuels Regulatory Framework; and

The Petroleum Products Bill.

This past year also saw the axing of the Independent System and Market Operator Bill, required as a first step to

introducing much-needed competition in the energy sector. The shelving of this Bill will have long-term effects on

the energy sector and further adds to the policy incoherence of the Department, which is supposedly guided by the

Energy White Paper of 1998.

On the important issues of energy and climate change mitigation the Department is hapless and ineffectual which

will undermine SAs existing global commitments to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.


In the past year the Minister attended Committee only seven times. The Minister spent R56 million in travel and

substance allowances. This made her one of the most widely travelled ministers in the current administration and

resulted in #TinaPhoneHome becoming popular on social media this year.


According to the 2014/15 Annual Report, the Department underspent on every single programme.

The DoEs total expenditure for the year under review was R6.22 billion or 83.63% of the total 2014/15

appropriation. This resulted in an unspent budget of R1.22 billion. Of that, R1.1 billion relates to an Eskom

grant for the implementation of the National Solar Water Heater Programme effectively undermining

governments key energy efficiency initiative.

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The bottom line:

Atomic Tina has spent so much time abroad this year that other countries are starting to think she is their

Minister of Energy. Even the Auditor-General was unable to pin her down long enough to discuss its audit

findings and recommendations with her. Here, long absences speak to a Department bereft of leadership and

which is failing in its primary duty of effective energy policy development and planning which as a result is

prolonging SAs energy crisis. It is time Atomic Tina packed away her travelling shoes, gave away her Voyager

Miles and stayed in South Africa long enough to fix her Department. The South African people deserve

nothing less.


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EDNA MOLEWAEnvironmental Affairs

Policy direction:

The Department under her leadership is mandated to ensure the

protection of the environment and conservation of natural resources,

balanced with sustainable and climate change-resilient development and

the equitable distribution of the benefits derived from natural resources. This is in linewith section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, which

stipulates that (e)veryone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their

health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations,

through reasonable legislative and other measures that:

i) Prevent pollution and ecological degradation;

ii) Promote conservation; and

iii) Secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable

economic and social development.

In order for the Department to be able to fulfil its mandate, the Minister must formulate, coordinate, monitorand give direction in the implementation of national environmental policies, programmes and legislation with

the additional support from entities such as the Isimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (IWPA), the South African

National Botanic Institute (SANBI), the South African National Parks (SANParks) and the South African Weather

Services (SAWS). The Minister needs to ensure that the Departments strategic policy priorities are aligned with

the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

An area of grave concern is wildlife crime which is ever increasing and yet there seems to be no political will

to tackle the issue head on. The Minister is failing to win the battle against wildlife crime especially rhino

poaching. South Africans from every walk of life have invested emotionally and financially in the rhino cause.

The international community also has donated millions but there seems to be no solution in curbing the rhino

poaching, especially in the Kruger National Park. There were 1 004 rhinos poached in the 2013/14 financial

year and this number increased to 1 215 in the 2014/15 financial year. The decision by the Minister towithhold statistics from the public has created mistrust and concerns over the spending of the funds donated

to the Save the Rhino cause.


The Ministers attendance to both the Portfolio Committee and oral question sessions is satisfactory.

Admin, finances and organisational skills:

The quality of financial statements submitted by the entities for audit improved but the SANParks received

an unqualified audit opinion. The SANParks audit outcomes have the bearing in scoring Minister Molewa

performance. Another factor affecting the overall performance of the Department are the quality of financialstatements submitted for audit by SANBI which regressed, causing a finding of material non-compliance.

Other issues include vacancies in key positions and key officials lacking appropriate competencies. It is also

worth noting that the National Treasury has exempted the Department from applying the Modified Cash

Standard in respect of infrastructure development assets in the current and previous year. Although the

Department and National Treasury are in dialogue to resolve this matter it remains a concern. There was

also a finding by the Auditor-General that pointed to ineffectiveness in relation to improving the IT governance

model at the Department, iSimangaliso, SANBI, SANParks and SAWS.

General comments:

It is concerning that the strategies and interventions by the Department in dealing with wildlife crime and rhino

poaching in particular are not contributing significantly to a decline in poaching figures. The other area that needsimmediate attention in the fight against rhino poaching is inadequate border control, especially along the eastern

boundary of the Kruger National Park with Mozambique from where the infiltration of the Park mostly appears to

take place. South Africa must be proactive in dealing with wildlife crime by playing a leading role in cross-border

collaboration, including cross-border law enforcement operations to disrupt local and international criminal

networks to control rhino poaching and wildlife crime.

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NHLANHLA NENEFinance

Introduction:

Minister of Finance, Nhalanhla Nenes, medium-term budget policy

statement literally went up in smoke on 21 October 2015 in Parliament.

He was on the back foot reacting to the demands of the #FeesMustFall campaign fora zero-percent increase in student fees for 2016.

This Ministers fumbling response to the #FeesMustFall campaign was a powerful symbol of the decline of the

National Treasury.

Policy direction:

The Minister has repeatedly warned that the biggest fiscal risks include weak economic growth, an

above-inflation public sector wage agreement and additional direct support or guarantees for public entities.

The medium-term budget policy statement therefore took place in a perfect fiscal storm with

weaker-than-projected economic growth, an above inflation public sector wage agreement and additional

guarantees for South African Airways.

To his credit, the Minister is desperately trying to hold the fiscal line but is drowning in red ink. He does not

have the support of his Cabinet colleagues who are:

Sabotaging any prospect of increasing the anaemic 1.5% economic growth rate, not least with

legislation such as the Promotion of Investment Bill, tabled by the Minister of Trade and Industry;

Rob Davies;

Resisting cost containment measures on non-core goods and services (which took aim at R25 billion

or 2% of main budget non-interest expenditure in 2013/14) and saved only R2 billon (which is only

0,2% of main budget expenditure in 2014/15);

Negotiated a public sector wage agreement which blew the budget and which will cost

R65.6 billion between 2015/16 and 2017/18, meaning an additional R12.6 billion in 2015/16;

R21 billion in 2016/17 and R32 billion in 2017/18; and

Pushing ahead with the proposed nuclear build programme which is the biggest fiscal risk to

South Africa.

However, this is not all that the Minister must contend with: No. Ones close confidante, Dudu Myeni, seems

to be determined to hit the high street and go shopping for a brand new multi-billion rand fleet, to bolster broke

South African Airways.

Parliament:

The Minister is a good sitter and regularly attends plenary session but is largely a stranger in the Standing Com-mittee on Finance.

To its credit, the National Treasury won third place in the Open Budget Index Survey in 2015. However, thismasks a worrying lack of transparency on a number of issues including:

Cost containment measures, the public sector debt, the public sector borrowing requirement;

Key reports on the scandal inside African Bank and the rogue spy unit inside SARS; and

Most importantly, the proposed nuclear build programme.

The Minister lost friends in Parliament with his request to move the medium-term budget policy statement forwardand the delay in tabling some key legislation, including the Financial Sector Regulation Bill.

The Minister is also, for the first time in the history of the democratic Parliament, having to deal with attempts toamend the adjusted budget proposed on 21 October 2015, using the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Relat-

ed Matters Act (No. 9 of 2009).

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Administration:

Under Director-General, Lungisa Fuzile, the National Treasury is generally well run having received a clean audit in

2015/16.

Conclusion:

The Minister of Finance, Nhalanhla Nene, is becoming increasingly isolated and is fighting too many battles on

too many fronts. This probably explains the leak of the Project Spiderweb report and the attempt to destabilise

the National Treasury. The Minister is going to have to toughen up if he wants to hold the fiscal line and containbig spending cabinet colleagues, who seem determined to risk fiscal oblivion, not to mention a sovereign ratings

downgrade of South Africa.


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AARON MOTSOALEDIHealth

Policy direction:

Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has been overreaching and socialistic in his

policy direction. He has effectively been on a misguided mission to socialise

medicine, as can be seen in the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy. On top

of this, the NHI white paper, along with the Treasurys financial assessment thereof,will only become available in the next month, having been delayed for years. One of the

most important initiatives taken by the ANC has been badly delayed and unavailable for

scrutiny for far too long.


Minister Motsoaledis attendance at Parliament has been reasonable to good. He takes Parliament and all

Members of Parliament very seriously. He has never been scared to engage.


On the positive side is the unqualified audit of the Department of Health. The progress made on the Medicinesand Related Substances Bill (the legislative framework for the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority),

which replaces the Medicines Control Council, is a positive development in the Department.

The Health Minister should be commended for his aspirational Ideal Clinic initiative, in which he has defined

a model and a norm for what clinics in South Africa should look like and what they should deliver. Minister

Motsoaledi has gone out of his way to find support to introduce these ideal clinics nationwide. He has also, to

his credit, introduced regulations relating to Emergency Medical Services (EMS), stipulating how ambulances

should be organised, how many there should be and what their normative response times should be; as well

as regulating the operational side of EMS, including the training of individuals working in the sector.

Minister Motsoaledi has invested in excellent initiatives when it comes to TB, extensively resistant TB and

multi-drug resistant TB at both hospital and clinic level.

On a global level, his co-chairing of the Global TB Caucus is an admirable effort to get Parliamentarians worldwide

to support the cause of fighting TB.

On the negative side has been the Departments handling of medicine shortages/stock-outs; its underperformance

in certain areas (e.g. only reaching 15 out of 31 targets in Programme 3); as well as the staffing crisis at the

National Health Laboratory Services, a 22% vacancy (for above target) with a debt increase from R4.5 billion to

about R5.3 billion.

The non-submission of annual reports by the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases and the Compensation

Commission for Occupational Diseases is unacceptable.

The failure to meet all of the UN Millenium Development Goal targets (e.g. TB prevalence and mortality, andmaternal mortality) is also a failure.

More than 10 Bills and clusters of regulations remain stuck in the Ministry and with the State Law Advisor. This

is an unacceptably slow march of health and state bureaucracy.

Of key concern has been the Departments failure to get the Free State, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo &

North West health Departments to deliver.

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BLADE NZIMANDEHigher Education and Training

Policy direction:

The Department has a clear vision for Higher Education in its generally

well-designed White Paper. Implementation, however, is uneven at best,

incompetent at worst. Severe underfunding of the Department has meant that

most of the tasks it sets itself cannot be completed properly. The migration of TVETs,creation of Community Colleges, differentiation between Universities, set-up of new

Universities, broadening of access and change of the composition of University staff

have all been plagued by this. Thousands of TVET certificates have not been issued;

the expansion of TVETs is envisaged without additional funds; the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)

is only half the size it should be; the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and Higher Education Quality Committee

(HEQC) are underfunded; University subsidies have fallen steadily; and the belated scheme to bring young black

staff into universities, funded out of existing money, is too little and too late.

As a result the sector is in uproar. Tens of thousands of unfunded students have closed Universities for

weeks, marched to the Union Buildings and Parliament, and committed acts of violence in some cases.

They won a no-fee increase ruling from the President. Besides its invasion into the autonomy principle, this

decision is unsustainable, financially speaking. It has brought vividly into focus the dire need for a revamp ofstudent financing. Multiple other protests are taking place on a range of other issues at the same time. The

solutions offered by the Minister and the Treasury are piecemeal, short term and inadequate. And in the middle

of this all, to further show his lack of concern about the current crisis facing the sector, the Minister has suddenly

introduced a controversial new Bill to further eat away at University autonomy which will be tabled in

Parliament shortly.

The Sector Education Training Authorities (SETAs) and the National Skills Fund continue to devour the R13 billion

per annum skills levy on thousands of projects, few of which appear to offer genuine; well-managed and

educationally sound courses to students seeking to improve their skills.


The Minister rarely appears before the Committee. When he does, he does not appears to be entirely in touch with

what the Ministry is doing, and only recently did he concede, under considerable pressure, that there are funding

problems in the sector. He does give the impression that his commitment to the South African Communist Party is

his primary concern, and that the Department is very much of secondary importance.

The Minister does not seek creative and expansive solutions to problems, but appears to believe that

centralisation of control will solve all. He has achieved centralisation with the TVET Colleges, but it is unclear

what the advantages of this will be in the long run. There are certainly some significant disadvantages. He is

now pushing to further invade the principle of University autonomy; and to diminish the authority of SETA

boards and bring them, too, under Ministerial control. However the crisis in higher education has got steadily

worse as the Ministers control has increased, suggesting that further control will exacerbate rather than

mitigate the problems in the sector.


The Ministry has some extremely able people within it. However they are hamstrung by the severe lack of funding

and a lack of leadership from the Departments highest offices. The Auditor-General has commented again this

year on the large number of unfunded mandates the Department has been given, and we have seen at almost

every meeting how they struggle to achieve all that is expected of them. In the 100 or so institutions overseen by

the Department there are clearly severe problems that appear in many cases to be insoluble corrupt Councils in

Historically Disadvantaged Institutions; exam fraud in TVETs; patronage in SETAs, incompetence in the National

Skills Fund; mission drift in the CHE and HEQC

The bottom line:

Higher Education and Training represents one of the most important sectors in our economy and society. It

produces the future. But it stands at a crossroads this year will the Minister adopt an enlightened and inclusive

approach to addressing its problems? Or will he continue to be largely absent, while pursuing his mistaken belief

that the command mode is best suited to managing some of our most crucial institutions despite clear evidence

to the contrary?

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MALUSI GIGABAHome Affairs

Policy direction:

Minister Malusi Gigabas attempts to reinvent the Department of

Home Affairs into a first generation government Department has only

served to create more uncertainty and confusion about the Departments

services and the direction in which it is heading.

1. The Minister introduced immigration regulations without considering their impact on the economy andwithout assessing the Departments ability to implement the new policy. This led to him postponingaspects of the new regulations on three separate occasions and his Department is still struggling toimplement various provisions of the regulations. For example, his Department could not handle theimplementation of the unabridged birth certificate requirement.

2. The Minister rolled out the new smart ID card without assessing his Departments ability to deliver onits promise. There was insufficient funding for the equipment and facilities to produce the new smartID cards, resulting in fewer branch offices having the capacity to receive applications. This createda bottle-neck and massive queues at Home Affairs offices, causing much frustration to clients. Theincreased demand for the new ID cards has placed a strain on the Departments IT systems. The result

is that, more often than not, the systems go offline causing even more frustration to clients who, inmany cases, waited for several hours without achieving anything.

3. The Minister introduced the rollout of birth registrations at hospitals but most of the help desks havebeen unmanned because there is insufficient staff at the hospitals to register the new births. The

systems are also regularly offline because of connectivity problems.


The Minister never attends the meetings of the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee. The last time he was present

was during the budget debate early in 2015. The Deputy Minister appeared twice.


With a R6.5 billion budget, the Department received a qualified audit.

The financial management of the Department has made some progress from last year since the recent appointment

of a new CFO. There is some positive progress in this regard.

However, the allocation of funds to Immigration Services remains a problem with a very slight increase over the

previous year, despite the fact that this is the most problematic programme of the Department. There are still very

few immigration officers in the country and there is still a reduced staff component to handle visa applications.

This results in long delays for work visas and permanent residence permits.

The bottom line:

Minister Malusi Gigaba should be recalled by President Zuma. He is more interested in his own ego and image and

cares little about the real issues of his Department.

He is completely out of touch with the reality of what goes on at ground level in the Department of Home Affairs.

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LINDIWE SISULUHuman Settlements

Policy direction:

When the Fifth Parliament began the Minister promised the introductionof a whole range of policies, but thus far there has been nothing new. Weare still waiting for her policies on the Urban Settlements Development Grant(USDG), hostel abolishment and the upgrading of informal settlements. Whilst

the Minister has been talking the right talk, this has not translated to visible actionfrom the Department in terms of delivery.


The Ministers attendance of Portfolio Committee meetings has regressed compared to 2014. She has only

attended the Portfolio Committee meeting twice in 2015. For the period under review the Minister did not

answer questions in the National Assembly as there were no Human Settlements questions that were prioritised.

The Minister does respond adequately to the written questions that have been sent to her Department.


The Department received an unqualified audit for the 2014/15 financial year, but the Auditor-General did point tounderspending in the programme that deals with informal settlement upgrades.

Despite the Department spending over 98% of its budget, performance does not match spending.

Programmes dealing with title deeds and informal settlement upgrades achieved less than 50% of their targets.

The transfer of the municipal capacity grants to metropolitan municipalities remains a challenge. The Department

withheld the transfers on at least two occasions.

The Department does not have a permanent director-general or chief financial officer.


The energy that the Minister displayed in 2014 seems to have fizzled away. The performance of the Department

in real terms is decreasing, especially on the provision of state subsidised housing, rental housing and informal

settlement upgrades.

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MAITE NKOANA-MASHABANEInternational Relations and Cooperation

Policy direction:

There is no policy coherence and clarity regarding South Africasforeign policy. The Minister is reluctant to address human rights issues.While South Africa should be loud and proud on the international stage todefend human rights across the world, we have allowed our relationship

with China in particular to trump our commitment to human rights. This hassignificantly bruised South Africas standing on the world stage. Where we were

once an unequivocal voice for peace and democracy, we now toe the line as Beijing dictates. The mostobvious example is South Africas shocking refusal to give the Dalai Lama a visa.

Since assuming her role, the Department has been in limbo in terms of defining a vision. The currentdiscussions on the White Paper on South Africas Foreign Policy are problematic as they do not offer aclear commitment to a human rights-based foreign policy as previously committed to by our government.

South Africas diplomatic stance on socio-economic and political developments in neighbouring countriesis ambiguous. The Minister has shied away from taking a position regarding developments particularly in

Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe.


The Minister did not appear before the Committee since the start of the Fifth Parliament. There are issues

with governance and accountability regarding the African Renaissance Fund (ARF), which is managed by the

Director-General of the Department, yet she has not been here to answer questions.

The Minister did not appear for oral questions. The content of written replies to Parliamentary questions also

lacked detail.


With a R5.1 billion budget, much of which going to strategically irrelevant and unnecessary missions, the

Department received a qualified audit with adverse findings. The Auditor-General indicated an inability on thepart of the Department to record its assets successfully.

The Director-General managed the administration of the ARF where serious issues of accountability and oversight

of the projects funded have come to light. To date, this issue has not been dealt with by the Minister; instead,

she has announced that the ARF will be replaced by the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADC).

The bottom line:

South Africa is placed strategically at the Chair of the SADC troika on Peace, Defence and Politics, as the

African Union Commission Chair and is a member of ECOWAS. However, we are consistently unable and

unwilling to articulate a clear human rights-based foreign policy, as the ANC has been willing to compromise

on these values to build relationships with countries who do not respect the rights of all of their citizens.

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MICHAEL MASUTHAJustice and Correctional Services

Policy direction:

The vision of the Minister in respect of all three Departments for whichhe is responsible lacks focus.

In the case of Justice and Constitutional Development the Ministers

legislative agenda remains largely aimed at addressing the need for thetechnical improvements of legislation consequential to either Court judgementsor the amendment of other legislation.

While the Criminal Matters Amendment Bill creates a new offence, bail protocol and a sentencing regimeto target copper theft, it is unfortunate that the Ministry was not willing to broaden the scope of the Billto assist local governments in their fight against the theft of water and electricity.

In respect of Correctional Services the Minister must be rebuked for his failure to undertake the longoverdue legislative amendments to assist the Department in tackling its governance problems as well asthe legislative provisions preventing the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services from functioningoptimally. Under the Ministers watch the finalisation of the White Paper on Correctional Services has,for the second time, been postponed for another year.

In respect of the Office of the Chief Justice the Minister was unfortunately, at the end of last year andbeginning of 2015, involved in a public argument with the Chief Justice after the Minister reneged onan agreement reached between his predecessor and the Judiciary on the continued evolvement of theoperational independence of the Judiciary. The stance of the Minister on this issue unfortunately ties inwith a trend within the Executive to resist the continued evolvement of the separation of powers in ourconstitutional order.


The Minister regularly attends sittings of the National Assembly and has attended every oral question sessionfor his cluster. His answers, however, remain vague and less than satisfactory.

The Portfolio Committee has only seen the Minister on two occasions for the introduction of the budgets of

his Departments and during its hearings for the budgetary review process. It is understood that the Ministerhas appeared before the Select Committee on Security in the National Council of Provinces far more regularly.

Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffrey remains the primary driver of the ministryslegislative agenda in Parliament and in Committee, while Correctional Services Deputy Minister, ThabangMakwetla, has once been missing in action.


The Minister has unfortunately not been able to exercise the authority and demonstrate the leadership necessaryto address the manifold challenges facing either the Justice or Correctional Services.

The Minister has failed to facilitate any speeding up in the court building programme or address the failure of Public

Works in respect of the creation of additional bed space at correctional facilities. The problems facing the StateAttorneys Office, the Third Party Fund and the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services remain unresolved.While wasteful expenditure has been curbed, both Justice and Correctional Services are faced with an increase inirregular expenditure.


The Minister failed dismally in the exercise of his constitutional obligations as the Minister responsible for theadministration of justice.

Firstly, he allowed and or enabled the vacation of office by the National Director of Public Prosecutions for reasonsother than not being fit and proper for the job. This not only was at a substantial cost to the public purse, butworked in subversion of the rule of law.

Secondly, he was instrumental in the decision of the Executive not to implement the order of the North GautengHigh Court in respect of the duty to arrest of Sudanese President, Omar Al Bashir when he visited the country inJune.

This not only subverted the rule of law, but also fits in with a growing trend by the Executive to treat ourConstitution as a hindrance rather than the supreme law of our country.

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MILDRED OLIPHANTLabour

Policy direction:

The Labour Minister does not appear to have an overall vision for

her Department and does not demonstrate that she cares about the

collapsing labour relations environment, increasing violence between unions

and strike violence, the serious unemployment rate, or corruption in her

Department. Her vision seems to be a laissez-Faire attitude and sometimes

has been forced to surrender her role to the Deputy President. The Minister

introduced stringent conditions on labour brokers which have been shown in

the past year, by both Cosatu and the business community, to have led to the decimation of jobs in

the country.


The Minister has, according to the minutes of all Portfolio Committee meetings in Parliament, not attended a

single meeting of the Portfolio Committee responsible for oversight of the Minister and her Department since

she was appointed Minister of Labour in 2010. The ANC has also refused repeated requests by opposition

parties to summon her or request that she attend.

She frequently does not attend Oral Questions sessions in the National Assembly, but sends her deputy instead.

The Minister treats Parliamentary Questions with contempt. She either refuses to give proper answers to

Parliamentary questions, gives no answer, or tries to obfuscate the truth with non-answers.


In her Department, traffic fines have been paid with taxpayers money and unauthorised overseas trips have

occurred according to the Auditor-Generals findings.

The Senior Legal Advisor of the Department was put on three years of paid suspension, costing the taxpayer

a staggering R 3.4 million to date.

Under the watch of the Minister, R 2.3 billion is being spent on investigating the introduction of a national

minimum wage and to determine its impact on the wage structure in South Africa, and related activities,

when neither the Department nor Nedlac have a position paper on minimum wages.

Only 53% of corporate work visas and only 68% of individual work visas were processed by the Department

of Labour in the past financial year, leading to a shortage of necessary skills in South Africa that could have

been avoided.

Under the Minister of Labour the disastrous Compensation Fund has now almost entirely collapsed. The DA

conducted research together with a host of surveys conducted by prominent employer organisations, medical

associations and private homecare companies; showing the complete breakdown of services.

A number of the largest labour centres in the country remained closed for periods of over a year due to buildings

being unfit for occupation or the utility bills not being paid. The Maponya Mall labour centre has been closed for a

lengthy period and now has been known to refuse further UIF or Compensation Fund claimants as they are unable

to process the claims.

DA oversight visits have come across long queues at labour centres where people wait for up to 8 hours before

being attended to. When people arrive to get UIF or compensation pay-outs at labour centres they are told that

all documents have been lost and they must start the process all over again. No feedback is given to them.

The disappearance of documents in the various warehouses run by the Department and its entities, particularly

the Compensation Fund and the UIF, have become legendary and the IT system designed to replace all this paper

has been a total disaster. Over R2.5 billion has been spent on it by the Department with a range of hardware,

software and maintenance contracts over the past six years and still the system does not work satisfactorily.

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The Minister has refused to table any improvements to legislation to reign in strike violence and refuses to

support DA proposals in this regard. Strike and inter-union violence have spiralled out of control in the past

four years under her leadership.

The Minister has failed to ensure that strike balloting is included in constitutions of existing trade unions, as per

the regulations that have already been approved, and only recently applied these regulations to new applications.

She particularly does not apply strike balloting provisions to Cosatu-aligned unions.

The illegal suspension of the Registrar of Labour Relations was found by the Courts to be improper. The Minister

had not applied her mind to the written submission of the Registrar, in the matter of the case of trade union,

CEPPWAWU. This action alone was clear political interference and the court ordered the re-instatement of the

Registrar. The Minister is still refusing to fully comply with the court order and is now appealing the judgement,

all to support her friend, the General Secretary of CEPPWAWU, who is close to the leadership of Cosatu and the

current ANC regime. CEPPWAWU has not submitted audited financial reports for four years in a row and must

immediately be placed under administration to protect workers investments.

Unemployment has risen to 8.4 million people and the Public Employment Services has only been able to place

2.3% of work seekers who register with the Department.

The Minister was absent from two of the countrys biggest strikes in recent history; both the platinum and the

agricultural strike.

There are consequences for all of this: the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index shows the

shocking statistics that our labour market efficiency places us at 113th out of 144 countries and 143rd for rigid

hiring and firing practices. Our wage inflexibility is 139th out of 144 and the most significant is the tensions in

the labour employer relations which ranks 144th.


25/47

MOSEBENZI ZWANEMineral Resources

Introduction:

Ngoako Ramatlhodi was removed from the Ministry in September, thus

avoiding a failing grade for his poor stewardship of the industry. Mosebenzi

Zwane has taken over with poor prospects. He comes to the position with no

cabinet or mining experience, and only a bad reputation as a go-to guy for theGuptas. Credibility will be hard to win after a start like that.

This year, the industry was marked by crashing international prices for minerals and massive losses in value

of mining companies. Declining investment and lost jobs led to an agreement in the Mining Industry National

Consultative Forum. This was trumpeted as significant but, without any fundamental change in the direction

of mining policy, amounted to mere tinkering.

Despite Zwanes low-profile start but wanting to encourage him, weve given him a generous E. In doing

so we are hoping he will live up to some nice things said about him by some members of the industry.

Policy direction:

There was none. The drift continued with no movement after the disastrous Mineral and Petroleum Resources

Development Amendment (MPRDA) Bill passed by Parliament but then sent back by President Zuma when he

was advised it was unconstitutional.

The bill was shuttled between the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and the NCOP with both seeming

to blame the other for the delay. This was probably because of in-fighting within the ANC about exactly what

to do. This was very much a case of bulldogs fighting underneath a carpet with no clarity on who was fighting,

who was winning or what was going on. Ramatlhodi either couldnt or wouldnt find a direction.

All that was visible was a singular lack of progress which meant great reluctance on the part of investors to

commit money to new mining projects. It has become so bad that Anglo American boss Mark Cuitifani warned

that companies were deciding not to even spend their staying-in-business-capital, which would mean the closure

of mines in the medium to long term. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of jobs are under threat.

The year is ending with the Mining Phakisa underway. This is an extended meeting of stakeholders away from

the public gaze. It is supposed to sort out conflicts between the industry and government. If Zwane suddenly

discovers amazing negotiating skills he could emerge from Phakisa with measures which could halt the decline

in the industry. Dont hold your breath.


Ramatlhodi was mostly absent, leaving it to his deputy, Godfrey Olifant, to answer questions in Parliament. He did

not appear before the Portfolio Committee. Zwane is in Parliament but sits quietly, seeming to impersonate a rabbit

caught in the headlights.

The standard of answers to written questions slipped from quite good to poor. Ramatlhodi was even caught out

giving untrue answers: There are no burning coal mine heaps! he asserted until he was shown video evidence

that proved there were. In general he tried to duck difficult questions.

Administration, finance and organisational skills:

The Department received an unqualified audit report with findings. The Department appears to be reasonably well

run, albeit within the poor parameters of bad legislation. There were widespread and worrying reports of corruption

in provincial offices of the Department with regard to the issuing of mining rights. Although these were unproven

the volume of complaints indicates it is probably happening.

Whether or not that included the double-granting of the same rights to two manganese mining companies,this high-profile case was not solved. It got worse, with the Chinese owners going to court after spending

millions prospecting, only to be told the rights were going to a state-owned company instead. This case alone

is guaranteed to make potential investors sceptical about investing money in South African mining ventures.

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There were also worries about the bribery of mining inspectors, who make decisions involving millions of rands.

The Minister was asked whether he was conducting any lifestyle audits of his inspectors but he said he saw no

need to do so, indicating a charmingly sanguine view of human nature

The bottom line:

Had Ramatlhodi hung around he would have got an F for failing to cut through the Gordian knot of uncertainty.

Zwane is new but is faced with a failing industry and thousands more lost jobs. The ANC needs to decide

between statism and cronyism on the one hand, or a flourishing driver of the economy on the other. Without

strong, intelligent leadership the mining industry will drift into the first.


27/47

JEFF RADEBEPlanning, Monitoring and Evaluation

Policy direction:

There seems to be sufficient evidence that the Minister has a vision

and desire for a well-run Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation

(DPME) with its finances well managed. Beyond that, things become quite

diffuse because of significant overlaps with some of the functions of theDepartment and those of the Department of Public Service and Administration

(DPSA) and the Public Service Commission (PSC).

This is because the core functions of the DPME are to monitor, promote, evaluate and facilitate the

activities of the various government Departments. However, these are generally functions that should

be accomplished by line managers in the various Departments and are co-ordinated by the DPSA.

The Minister has also not given sufficient clarity or direction to the National Planning Commission and

the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).

The DPME oversees the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) and with the National

Planning Commissioners now in place, the Minister should, in any case, clarify the role and responsibilities,

if any, of the commissioners regarding the implementation of the plan.


The Minister has appeared once before the Portfolio Committee during the year to present the Departments

2014/15 annual report recently. He has a standing apology for the regular meetings of the Committee. While he

has been present to answer questions for oral reply in the House, his attendance in the National Assembly needs

improvement. His answers to Parliamentary questions for written reply have somewhat improved from the previ-

ous year and the Minister seems to make an effort to give real answers.


The Department is well run and received a clean audit for 2014/15, an improvement on the qualified report forthe previous year. The NYDA, for which the Minister is the executive authority, also received a clean audit; a

far cry from the serial disclaimers and qualified audit reports of previous years since its inception in 2009.

However, the Auditor-General identified material misstatements in two programmes, Outcomes Monitoring and

Evaluation and National Planning. While the misstatements were subsequently corrected, this is the sort of

thing that should not happen in this Department. Given that one of its mandates is to promote good monitoring

and evaluation practices in government.

Furthermore, while it has done much better in this regard compared to previous years, the NYDA still managed to

rake up irregular expenditure of R580 000 and R266 000 in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

The Minister is also the executive authority for Stats SA which incurred fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R4310 000 and irregular expenditure of R416 000 during the last financial year.

The bottom line:

Despite being responsible for over R3 billion in annual budgets it remains unclear whether the Ministers work

could not be more easily, and indeed more cheaply, done by another Department.

We remain sceptical since we believe that this is one of the redundant make work Departments of President

Jacob Zumas very expensive, bloated Cabinet.

The Minister also seems to be all over the place in his capacity as chairperson of various inter-Ministerial

committees and projects and as communication point-man for the Cabinet and the Government.

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NKOSINATHI NHLEKOPolice

Policy direction:

Minister Nhlekos track record at the helm of the Department during

2015 can only be described as lacklustre at best. Nothing typifies this more

starkly than the current leadership instability at three out of the four Departments

under his watch: the SAPS, Independent Police Investigate Directorate (IPID) andCivilian Secretariat for Police all have acting heads, with little prospect of this

situation changing in the foreseeable future. There is lots of acting but no

substantive performance.

The only time the Minister has exercised his powers forcefully has been in aid of politically motivated agendas.

The first to fall victim to a Ministerial witch-hunt was the former head of the Hawks, Anwa Dramat, whose

troubles began after he attempted to investigate President Jacob Zumas Nkandla security upgrades.

The next target was the suspended IPID Director, Robert McBride, who was accused of altering the IPID

investigation report on the rendition of Zimbabwean nationals which were also the basis for the allegations

against Mr Dramat. The picture clearly emerges of a Minister who is more concerned with serving the hand

that feeds him rather than the people of South Africa.

In contrast, almost every other aspect of his time in office has been characterised by stalling and a busi-

ness-as-usual approach. Minister Nhleko is yet to give policy direction on demilitarisation of the police which is

mandated by the National Development Plan. Changing the shoot to kill culture planted by former National Police

Commissioner Bheki Cele will require strong leadership and a concerted, sustained effort driven from the executive

authority.

Similarly, this Minister has not undertaken a strategy to address the chronic under-resourcing of the SAPS at

station level where it matters most to serve communities. This should be top of his agenda. The longstanding

status quo of police stations is that they are under-staffed, under-resourced and under-equipped with

under-trained operational officers.

Feeding into this chronic problem has been the neglect, if not outright strangling, of the police reservist corpsthat is so desperately needed to boost capacity in the police service, both in terms of numbers and skills.

Minister Nhleko has also not acted on the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquirys recommendation that the National

Police Commissioner urgently appoint a task team to investigate the system of human resource allocation within

the SAPS.

The results of this work would give a clear picture of what the problems are so as to pinpoint immediate solutions

for achieving progress in the short term. On the same front, the Minister has resisted signing a memorandum

of agreement with the Western Cape Government that would facilitate comprehensive implementation of the

Commissions recommendations in the spirit of co-operative governance. Again, we see more stalling from him.

Even with matters that are specifically on his Ministerial agenda, the Minister doesnt appear to know whether he

is coming or going. Both the Firearms Control Amendment Bill and the Critical Infrastructure Bill that the Minister

was supposed to introduce to the Police Portfolio Committee this year have been held back with no indication of

when they will be introduced.

Essentially, while the Minister continues to stall, key issues remain unresolved and in limbo.


Minister Nhlekos attendance at plenaries is a mixed bag. Although he is not in the House consistently, like much

of the Cabinet, he has attended all but one of his oral reply sessions. However, during these sessions he displayed

his trademark vagueness and evasiveness, often replying to follow-up questions inadequately or not at all. Replies

to Parliamentary questions are reasonably clear and substantive.

e


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The inconsistent financial and organisational performance across the four Departments under the Ministers

supervision show that his hand is barely on the tiller of his portfolio to improve and standardise the quality of

outcomes in each entity.

The Auditor-General assessed the Civilian Secretariat to be in a poor state and both the IPID and Private

Security Industry Regulatory require significant improvement but seem to be progressing. While the SAPS

technically performs best on financial indicators, with minimal irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure,

this does not translate into better resourced police stations.


This is a Minister whose sole concern is political manoeuvring to protect President Jacob Zuma. Every other major

issue that should concern him receives either a light touch or benign neglect. That is what happens when we have

a President who puts the ANC first, before the country, and an ANC Cabinet that makes protecting Number One

its first priority


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LYNNE BROWNPublic Enterprises

Policy direction:

Minister Brown has been very clear in indicating when the Departmentstarted that it would be used as a catalyst for the privatisation of the StateOwned Entities (SOEs). This has now changed in no uncertain terms to aDepartment of development, the true meaning of which is unclear.

While there are over 600 SOEs, only Denel, Transnet, SAX, Eskom, Alexcor, andSafcol remain under the watch of the Department. SAA is being looked after byTreasury as things were so out of control with regard to Government bailouts.

A huge problem that has been acknowledged by both the Minister and the Department itself is the fact thatbecause these SOEs have their own operating rules and charters, the Minister and Department often findthemselves completely toothless and unable to execute the necessary oversight over the entities.

The Department should monitor performance with regards to the following:

1. Infrastructure investment and delivery;

2. Operational and industry efficiency;

3. Financial and commercial viability; and

4. Governance and regulatory compliance.

This oversight is made virtually impossible due to legislation that hinders the Minister from making interventions.There is a piece of legislation that will be discussed regarding the possible changes to SOEs and this is essentialas, currently, the entities simply carry on regardless because, by law, they are allowed to do so.


The Minister has been present at the Portfolio Committee only a few times. The excuse that is given is that the

Cabinet meetings happen on a Wednesday at the same time that the Portfolio Committee sits. She comes in onlyfor an hour. The committee starts at 09:30 and she leaves at 10:30, so her time with the committee is rushedand she has very little time to interact with us. When she does interact, she avoids straight forward answersand gives a very general overview of the problems.


The Department spent 92.4% of its budget in the 2014/2015 financial year and received an unqualifiedaudit report. The reason given for the underspend was vacancies not being filled as well as the delay in theimplementation of some projects as a result of changes in the internal and external policy environment. TheDepartment has very little ability to exercise control over its entities. The Portfolio Committee have nowdemanded to see the shareholder contracts with each of the entities. The

da cabinet report card 2015

Documents