Presidency’s silence on ministers’ performance reviews raises eyebrows

The Presidency conducted performance reviews on cabinet ministers about six months ago and kept mum about it. 

According to Maropene Ramokgopa, the minister in the presidency for planning, monitoring and evaluation, the performance reviews between President Cyril Ramaphosa and ministers were done between April and July. 

Ramokgopa was responding to a written parliamentary question from DA MP Samantha Jane Graham, who asked whether performance agreements have been put in place with each minister and deputy minister and on what date the last round of assessments was conducted. 

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“Yes, the department of planning, monitoring, and evaluation coordinated the signing of performance agreements between the president and ministers,” said Ramokgopa. 

“In this regard, the president has signed performance agreements with all ministers. Deputy ministers are assigned work responsibilities by the ministers in accordance with the performance management signed by the ministers with the president.

“Performance management was conducted with ministers between April and July. In this regard, the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation has developed an ICT [information communications technology] performance management system to monitor the performance of ministers.”

Calling for transparency in government

The DA submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to Ramokgopa, requesting she release the outcome of performance reviews. 

“Since signing performance agreements with ministers in 2020, Ramaphosa has not lived up to the commitment he made to enhance accountability through a structured performance management system at the executive level because of the failure to either conduct or publish periodic performance reviews,” said the party. 

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It said it was a matter of public interest progress reports on the performance of ministers were accessible. 

“Ramokgopa should, therefore, lift the veil of secrecy around the reviews conducted between April and July and make them available publicly as a matter of urgency,” said the DA. 

“Considering the multitude of crises facing the country at the moment, and the cluelessness of the ANC government to effectively address them, it is not surprising why Ramaphosa’s government will want to keep the performance reviews a secret. 

“The cost of living has driven consumers to the edge, load shedding has become progressively worse, unemployment is at an all-time high, Treasury has issued a red alert warning the country’s public coffers are empty, SOEs have collapsed, and crime has become a national pandemic.”