‘A lot of things will happen’, says Ramaphosa about ‘underperforming’ ministers

President Cyril Ramaphosa is looking to crack the whip on underperforming ministers in his Cabinet ahead of the next year’s election.

The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met over the weekend to discuss a number of issues including the country’s energy crisis and combatting crime.

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The main item of the agenda, however, was the election manifesto review which will highlight the ruling party’s priority areas in preparation for the upcoming 2024 general elections.

With the ANC projected to drop below 50%, the ruling party has looked to rally the ANC leaders to unite and work harder in their election campaign.

‘Programme of action’

Delivering his closing remarks on Monday, Ramaphosa said the election manifesto review was not aimed at producing “a report card”, but rather “an ambitious and achievable programme of action” for the next five years.

“At the center of the 2019 election manifesto was the commitment to work together with our people and various formations in our country to transform the economy and to serve the people of our country,” he said.

The president said the process has already started in government following his meetings with various members of his Cabinet in April.

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“At Cabinet level, the deputy president and myself have been involved in the process where we have been meeting each one of our ministers and saying to them we want to know and fully understand against our manifesto, against the medium-term strategic review and against the departmental plans that they have, what are the key priorities leading to the end of this sixth term.

“Having sat down with all our ministers, they tabulated what their priorities are. We have noted them all and that is what they going to be measured against,” Ramaphosa said.

He added that he would meet with the ministers again for a performance review in six months time.

“When we meet them, they must have their deputy ministers, [director-generals] and some of the key officials to account on what they would have done in executing those priorities. We said we are not going to accept any excuses or explanations [because] the priorities they have set out must be addressed, met and executed, otherwise a lot of things will happen.”

Watch Ramaphosa’s speech below:

Minister in the Presidency responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation Maropene Ramokgopa previously indicated that Ramaphosa’s “priority reviews” with Cabinet members was aimed at improving delivery of services from the state.

The president had come under fire for failing to hold ministers accountable after signing performance agreements with them only a year after the elections.

‘Glass is half full’

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa also said the manifesto will be an inclusive process, born out of the views that the ANC members and their alliance partners expressed at the NEC meeting.

The president pointed out that the ANC would engage with the public once party leaders have gathered all the views and outline what the governing party has done in implementing their 2019 manifesto.

“We all agreed that much more needs to be done to complete the execution of our 2019 manifesto. I would like to believe that much has been done [but] a lot still needs to be done and that we will raise from here knowing that a great deal of progress has been made.

“In other words, the glass is not empty, the glass is half full and moving towards being full. That’s precisely where we are,” he continued.

He also stressed that the party has undertaken the election manifesto review not as an accounting exercise.

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