The good and the bad of Ramaphosa’s team

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign to contain the spread of the coronavirus in South Africa, which has triggered over 1,800 cases of infection and at least 13 deaths, has served as a mechanism to measure how cabinet stepped up to fight a common enemy.

Independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga and University of SA professor of politics Dirk Kotze yesterday gave The Citizen an assessment of how some key ministers on the National Command Council have performed.

Mathekga said there had been “too much emphasis on security, resulting in the security cluster being too much at the forefront of the process”.

In his scorecard, he gave health seven, police five, finance seven, defence five, the department of international relations and co-operation six, employment and labour six, basic education five, agriculture six, human settlements, water and sanitation five and the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs five.

Kotze said management of the epidemic was “highly centralised”, with Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma dominating.

“Provinces have limited space to adopt their own approaches.”

Of Mkhize, he said: “He is consistent in his approach, demonstrates intimate knowledge of the situation, is advised by medical experts, which means his decisions are not political, but informed by relevant considerations.

“Dr Dlamini-Zuma has the overall responsibility to manage the state of disaster. Disaster regulations have had to be amended a number of times now to make them less draconian.”

Regarding Defence Minister Nosisiwe Mapula-Nqakula, he said: “Initially, incidents were reported of rough behaviour by soldiers and three deaths (which could have involved the police too). It has largely subsided. The minister publicly distanced herself from that behaviour, which was a clear indication it will not be tolerated. Her performance is satisfactory.”

Of Police Minister Bheki Cele, Kotze said: “He presented himself as the enforcer of the lockdown in a hawkish way. Some of his initial statements on how the regulations will be implemented had to be qualified later.”

Of Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, so far the main step taken had been to make adjustments to the Unemployment Insurance Fund application process.

Regarding Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, Kotze said the real test of the financial implications would emerge later.

– brians@citizen.co.za