Brigitte Mabandla, Minister of Housing — Grade: D
Brigitte Mabandla took office in February and her 10 months in the position have not, perhaps not unreasonably, borne any fruit. Observers say she is hamstrung by her lack of knowledge about housing — she was formerly the deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology — and that her Director General, Mpumi Nxumalo, now runs the show from the wings.
This is worrying as government spending on homes has been slowing, despite housing remaining a visual reminder of past inequalities. It needs a strong political champion.
Delivery achievements this year are scant. Mabandla’s biggest announcement was an increase in the subsidy levels for people who qualify for low-cost houses of between 11,4% and 14,8% depending on the recipient’s income.
The department’s rental stock programme for the housing sector is in dire financial straits. Observers say that social housing institutions, which are mandated to target the lower to medium end of the rental market, are not being managed correctly and that the private sector is still extremely reluctant to invest in this area. The Financial Services Charter, which includes a sub-section for access to housing finance for low- and medium-income level households, should address this concern. The flipside of this coin, however, is that the Community Reinvestment Bill, the centrepiece of Mabandla’s parliamentary agenda this year, has been put on to ice while the charter is finalised.
The National Housing Finance Corporation, a state-owned enterprise set up by the housing department in 1996 to mobilise finance for social housing institutions, has suffered a mismatch between its mandate and delivery — as a risk financier it is accused of exercising too much financial caution. Stakeholders say that about 30 social housing institutions have folded as a result.
Given Mabandla’s meagre budget allocation of about R5-billion this year, she cannot be blamed solely for the fact that informal settlements continue to mushroom across the country. Yet one of her greatest challenges will be to address underspending in the department — during the past financial year only 75% of the budget was spent.
Mabandla’s lenient grade will need a second look next year when she is more settled. Her department has cutting-edge policies, but Mabandla needs to concentrate on implementation, which is suffering most at local government level because of a poor skills base.
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, Minister of Communications — Grade: F (2002 F)
The biggest event overshadowing the department and, more importantly, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri this year has been the selection of the second national operator for a fixed telephone-line network, as a competitor to Telkom.
Fraught with allegations of corruption and even the insinuation that the government has been stalling the process to give Telkom time to fatten its coffers, the minister has been seen to be dithering, rather than firmly driving a process key to the government’s information and communications development strategy.
On the flipside, the minister, through the guidance of her former director general Andile Ngcaba, has also taken a keen interest in the future of the technology landscape of our country. This has included keeping close tabs on what the cellphone operators are up to and happenings in the State Information Technology Agency. Ngcaba has long been considered the strategic thinker and power behind Matsepe-Casaburri and his departure may impact badly on the future performance of the ministry.
Other notable moves over the past year have included the implementation of the highly controversial and potentially flawed Electronic Communications Bill — which gave the minister the power to identify databases within the republic that could be deemed ”critical” to the safety of the nation, among other things. There is concern in many quarters that the Bill gives the minister the power to act like ”Big Brother”.
Companies have also opted to lobby the president directly about cheaper telecommunications rates. The high costs of telecommunications is seen as a major obstacle to the development of information and communications technology in South Africa, but the minister is seen as not doing enough to make them more affordable. Telkom sets its rates, which have to be approved by the independent regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
There is also, of course, the involvement in the postal issues, which has left a bitter taste in the mouths of courier companies still trying to stave off potentially exorbitant licensing fees and the threat of their businesses collapsing as the minister has tried to force a large part of their business to be channelled to the Post Office.
This year the minister gets an A for protecting the government’s interests, but continues to fail in her major responsibility — that is, creating an environment in which information and communication technology in South Africa can thrive.
Membathisi Mdladlana, Minister of Labour — Grade: B (2002 C+)
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is arguably one of the most competent ministers in the Cabinet. A former unionist, Mdladlana’s grasp of labour issues and his enthusiasm for his job is unquestionable. His understanding of the field is perhaps best reflected in the labour legislation put in place by his department.
But the quality of the legislation designed to protect workers is irrelevant as the department seemingly does not have the capacity to monitor and enforce much of the country’s labour law.
Take the Skills Development Act, for example. The Department of Labour, in March 2000, established Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) to provide skills training for workers, the unemployed and those working in small businesses.
Three years down the line the training agencies have failed to make a meaningful impact on the huge skills backlog in the country and a number have been dogged by allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds.
Although Mdladlana should be commended for having since amended the Act, and now has the power to take control of non-performing Setas, the question remains whether his department has the capacity to improve their functioning and the ability to develop the skills the country needs. A shortage of appropriate skills has long been identified as a major obstacle to economic growth and job creation.
Mdladlana also seems to be struggling to effectively implement the Sectoral Determination Bill. The Bill determines the basic conditions of employment and minimum wages for vulnerable workers, such as domestic and farm workers.
Given the extent of exploitation in these sectors, the Bill was definitely a good idea. But the lack of communication between Mdladlana’s department and employers around issues of concern appears to be a problem. Since the introduction of the legislation a number of workers, especially farm workers, have reportedly been dismissed from their jobs. Labour unions have blamed the minister for failing to consult with employers and employees regularly regarding the Bill. ”People need to understand what the laws are all about. You can’t have a once-off campaign and expect people to understand,” a member of the Congress of South African Trade Unions says.
Protests about the old bugbear, that South African labour laws are too restrictive, seem to have died down, especially since many employers have found ways around much of the legislation.
A major achievement has been the amendment of the Unemployment Insurance Act. The amendments extended the fund to cover high-earners — boosting its income — and also domestic and farm workers. The overall effect has been to stabilise the finances of the fund, even though its administrative systems remain far from ideal.
However, the minister’s grade improves significantly because of the political and personal leadership he has provided to his department.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Minister of Minerals and Energy — Grade: A (2002 A)
Mlambo-Ngcuka spent a significant part of the year stitching together the final but important bits of the Mining Charter, most notably legislation governing the payment of royalties and whose delay was said to be causing uncertainty in the industry.
She put on the national agenda the question of renewable energy, setting in motion the search for cleaner and ultimately cheaper sources of energy for the country.
Mlambo-Ngcuka will be bitterly disappointed that there was little movement in the complex restructuring of the electricity industry, something she had vowed to complete before the end of this government’s term in office. In April the Regional Distributors Holding Company was inaugurated and is currently housed in Eskom’s headquarters. The company will oversee the formation of six regional distributors, which will be owned by municipalities. In the process Eskom is to lose ownership of distribution assets, to be compensated by converting its stake into debentures and repaid by the regional distributors.
For her part, Mlambo-Ngcuka has been on a road show, trying to win a political buy-in for the restructuring process, which is fraught with political and economic clashes. For example, many ANC allies in the trade union movement are opposed to any form of restructuring that could cost jobs or result in privatisation of public enterprises.
The minister also has responsibility for the restructuring of the oil industry. The Petroleum Products Amendment Bill seeks to rationalise the retail sector, where the minister wants to reduce the current number of petrol stations, which employ about 50 000 people. This puts her in line for a head-on clash with big oil company interests. This is unlikely to deter the minister, who made economic transformation charters such as the Mining Charter fashionable and has a habit of taking on colossal institutions with vested interests.
Mohammed Valli Moosa, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism –Grade: A (2002 A-)
Mohammed Valli Moosa graduates this year with a straight A. The minister has declined nomination to Parliament next year, and although he has not spelt out why, it is believed this is because he has a degenerative back condition and would like to enjoy life outside the rigours of government service.
There is unanimity, even among his critics, that Moosa has worked hard to raise the profile of environmental issues. ”He has ensured that the issues are taken seriously on all levels,” says South African director of IUCN-The World Conservation Union Saliem Fakir. ”He has done this by demonstrating that the portfolio can make a strong contribution to the economy, both through conservation and tourism.”
This year Moosa pushed hard on ”brown” issues — the M&G’s 2002 report card criticised him for not doing enough to tackle pollution. Both the Air Quality Management Bill, tabled late this year, and the launch of a ”green Scorpions” task team (the environmental protection support unit) are aimed at regulating air pollution.
Enforcement of the plastic bags legislation attracted a fair amount of negative publicity, but did not detract from the goal. Noticeably fewer plastic bags litter the country.
A raft of legislation — dealing with biodiversity, protected areas and environmental management — almost made it through Parliament this year and will hopefully be signed into law in the new year. Given the complexity of the issues involved, this has been no mean feat.
October saw Moosa gazetting the largest single proclamation of protected areas in South Africa since the 1920s. An extra 121 000ha of land was added to various national parks —bringing the country considerably closer to its stated target of 8% of land under protection by 2010.
That target will be assisted by the introduction this year of a ”tax break” into draft property rating legislation that will encourage private property owners to place their land under conservation.
The sustainable future of marine resources was assisted this year by the launch of environmental courts and new fisheries. Fishing licences and quotas were contentious, but the criticisms mainly came from sore losers.
Tourism is South Africa’s fastest-growing industry and contributes 11% of the country’s GDP. However, its phenomenal recent growth is expected to slow this year.
Sydney Mufamadi, Minister of Provincial Affairs and Local Government — Grade: D (2002 C+)
Perhaps the minister does not understand how important his portfolio is. Since 2001 Sydney Mufamadi has been in charge, albeit in consultation with his Cabinet colleagues, of the 21 rural and urban renewal programmes that are meant to show how the government intends to implement its development programmes and get basic infrastructure and social services to communities.
These programmes are supposed to showcase the government’s vision of integrated planning, where national, provincial and local departments work together to implement social and economic development strategies for communities. But the government has already conceded the programmes are not having the expected effect on poverty.
And local government remains in the throes of change, which over the past 10 years saw councils reduced from more than 800 to 284, but their responsibilities increased from rates and rubbish collection to a social and economic developmental role.
Councils are touted as ”agents of delivery” of basic services such as water, lights and sanitation and economic development. But to do so cooperation between all government spheres must run like a Swiss clock. It’s not the case.
A parliamentary study tour to 41 of the country’s 284 municipalities found widespread concern over lack of support to municipalities. Thus, for example, many councils hurriedly hired consultants rather than holding consultations to meet the national deadlines for their Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) to establish local priorities.
Perhaps it’s understandable Mufamadi retreats into jargon such as ”diagnostic assessment”, ”support instruments” and ”synchronisation”. His portfolio is eminently suited for this type of language. It has URP (Urban Renewal Programme), ISRDP (Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme) and PIMSS (Planning and Implementation Management Support System).
It’s not all bleak. Following last year’s municipal indaba, several support programmes, including cash for IT equipment, are in place. National allocations to councils, which collect about 90% of their own revenue, will be streamlined. And the Municipal Finance Management Act will soon extend the accountability already required from officials of national and provincial departments to local councils.
And then there is the creeping municipal debt, now estimated at R25-billion.
Government departments, liable alongside business for a third of the debt, have started settling their arrears; R350-million was paid in the past five months.
Provinces are spending more of their money more effectively, and there has been the unqualified audit findings for all Gauteng departments.
And after years of consultations, legislation providing a formal role for traditional leadership is on the brink of being signed by the president.
”Making steady progress” is a phrase much used by Mufamadi. But maybe the end of the first decade of democracy is the time to crack the whip. His grade is fast sliding because the minister is still mumbling tech-jargon, and not making sure things are happening on the ground on the necessary scale.
Ben Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture Science and Technology — Grade: D (2002 C+)
The year in arts and culture could not have been more disastrous for Ben Ngubane. His late appointments of the boards of the National Film and Video Foundation and the National Arts Council (NAC) prejudiced numerous arts projects, and earned the wrath of those affected. He excluded Marilyn Martin from the Board of the NAC, despite her being duly elected by the previous board, and then was embarrassingly forced to reinstate her. He all but annulled the hard-fought-for principle of ”arm’s length” governance by changing the law to allow him to appoint chairpersons of publicly funded bodies. Now the chairperson that he appointed to the NAC is at the centre of allegations of poor corporate governance at the council.
Then there was the famous radio outburst by Ngubane in which he said that he wouldn’t pay attention any longer to this report card rating and that the arts community ”could go to hell”, which probably accounts for his increasingly low profile within the arts leg of his portfolio. Even the good that he has done — obtaining international funding for the arts — is threatened by international donors reconsidering their funding in the light of poor governance and lack of action on his part at the NAC. An F for his management of the arts and culture is appropriate.
In the area of science and technology, though, things are a bit rosier. He has done much to draw youth and women into scientific fields and strengthen technological and indigenous knowledge links with other developing countries.
Questions have, however, been raised about the wisdom of combining science and technology in a single portfolio with arts and culture, especially because the technology aspect is distributed among a number of different departments leading to a bunfight in the government — with the departments pulling against each other to take ownership of the terrain. The Department of Public Service and Administraton says it owns the rights to the State Information Technology Agency, the Department of Communications will not let them make a decision without rubber-stamping it, and the Department of Trade and Industry keeps an eagle eye on the terrain to protect its interests.
The reality is that there is no lack of involvement from the government and the various ministries when it comes to the management of technology, but there is a lack of real ownership. Ngubane should be taking it under his wing and nurturing and guiding it.
The minister receives a B for his work with the science and technology portfolio.
Charles Nqakula, Minister of Safety and Security — Grade: E (2002 C)
Nqakula’s personality, more than his policies, will forever be compared to his predecessor, the late Steve Tshwete.
In Tshwete the fight against crime had a gregarious campaigner whose sharp statements put fear into the hearts of a few criminals and confidence into those worried that the state was losing its battle against South Africa’s felons. It is hard to remember anything memorable Nqakula has said all year. This is a serious failure in a government department charged with tackling one of the country’s major problems and that relies on public support and cooperation to succeed in its work.
In fact, Nqakula seems to have left the straight-talking to national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Selebi has been the one to tell members of Parliament when their legislation expects too much of the overstretched South African Police Service (SAPS) and he was the first to defend the right of policemen to use deadly force in defence while in pursuit of dangerous criminals. Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act effectively forbids police officers to use deadly force and provides for them to be charged if they shoot somebody in the course of their duties.
Nqakula and other provincial safety and security ministers seemed to only follow suit later. The minister also does not seem to enjoy the same confidence of rank-and-file SAPS officers that the tough-talking Selebi does.
Nqakula prevaricated before releasing the reports on farm killings, ostensibly because he disagreed with some of its findings. He eventually — under extreme pressure from various public institutions fearing the sexing-up of its contents — released them. The report found that there were no political motives for the killing of farmers, and some agricultural unions refused to accept the results of the inquiry. He has also continued with Tshwete’s policy of keeping a tight control over crime statistics.
He has refused to comment on allegations of maladministration in the police secretariat, the independent, civilian office that is supposed to keep an eye on the SAPS for abuses of power, among other things. His silence is totally unacceptable when the SAPS is supposed to be at the forefront of the country’s fight against crime and corruption.
On the upside, it was during his tenure that a R200 000 once-off grant to dependents of officers who die in the line of duty was announced.
Comparisons with the former safety and security minister aside, Nqakula has failed hopelessly in the job on his own merits.
Abdullah Omar, Minister of Transport — Grade: D (2002 D-)
Dullah Omar’s performance in his portfolio was hampered by illness for a large part of the year. During that time Jeff Radebe had to handle his portfolio.
The major event in the transport department this year was the issuing of new credit card-sized, tamper-free driving licences at the end of April. Though the queues were long and the tempers short, Omar and his department completed the exercise that began in 1998. However, Radebe was to admit shortly after the completion of the programme that a significant percentage of the new licences were suspected of being fake or illegally registered on the system.
The major blot on Omar’s report card is the failure of his department to reduce the death toll on South Africa’s roads. Some of the main killers were unroadworthy and overloaded trucks, busses and taxis — vehicles that should have been kept off the country’s roads by local and provincial transport departments. The Department of Transport also has hopelessly failed to facilitate the recruitment, training and deployment of effective numbers of traffic officers on the country’s roads by provincial and local governments.
Yet Omar said in Parliament he was beginning to see results in the implementation of the Road to Safety 2001-2005 campaign.
The licence demerit system that Omar drove last year in Parliament has not yet been implemented. The system promised to reduce carnage on the roads, because repeat offenders will ultimately lose their driving licences.
The minister continues to grapple with corruption problems in the Civil Aviation Authority and the Road Accident Fund. Though anti-corruption measures have been put in place, the funds still provide rich pickings for fraudsters.
Omar is still driving the taxi recapitalisation programme, though with a lot of stops and starts. His announcement that taxis would not have to comply with basic safety procedures for at least another four years has won praise from taxi associations and criticism from road safety experts.
Critics say he has caved in to the demands of taxi operators who want to keep death-trap vehicles on the road. Taxi operators have welcomed his decision, saying it will give them more time to prepare for taxi recapitalisation. Omar admitted in Parliament that troublesome gaps still existed in plans to implement the taxi recapitalisation programme.
Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency — Grade: D (2002 D+)
To rate Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad on his formal job alone, would be to give him a B.
An ardent feminist — in Cabinet he insists that women are considered for all senior appointments — a steward for the youth and a keen lobbyist for a better deal for disabled people, Pahad puts to good use his brash ways to push for the policies and practices that will make manifest the Constitution’s commitment to the empowerment of these designated groups.
He also excels at his informal job — that of Mbeki’s back-stop and henchman. But for another superlative performance in this position this year Pahad gets a D. His aggressive defence of the president is bad for the image of South Africa.
Who else but Pahad could make a national debate of an Evita Bezuidenhout letter-to-the-editor? Not content with letting old drag queens write, Pahad took her on in a frothing defence of the government’s HIV/Aids policy.
So incensed was he with another unpatriotic Afrikaner, Sasol’s Pieter Cox this time, that he got Mbeki to take the Christmas cheer out of the markets with a totally over-the-top attack on Cox for listing BEE as a risk factor for the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
He briefs the Cabinet on current affairs every week and was at least partly responsible for Mbeki’s tendency this year to cut up rough on issues that required a more statesmanlike hand. Witness the president’s attacks on investigative reporting, Aids activists and, finally, the Commonwealth earlier this month.
His influences on these flashes of presidential disingenuity overshadow Pahad’s good work. His location, in the Presidency, is to ensure that economic and social policies for the youth, disabled people and women cascade through the government. It’s a political muscle he flexes well.
The Office on the Status of Women is not the humming gender engine it could be, but his appointment of Susan Nkomo as leader has given it impetus.
There is a ”focal point” in every department that should ensure that women’s advancement is addressed and policies are written and implemented through a gendered lens. He’s done the same for the offices for the disabled and for children. But the National Youth Commission, which also falls under Pahad, does not justify its annual budget of R13-million. It duplicates work done by organisations such as LoveLife and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and has yet to find a useful role for itself.
Jeff Radebe, Minister of Public Enterprises — Grade: C (2002 C-)
Despite Jeff Radebe officially being the Minister of Public Enterprises, he is often viewed as the minister in charge of privatisation. Over the next two years the Treasury expects R2,4-billion a year in proceeds from privatisation.
But, in the face of a depressed investment environment, he has struggled to make a success of his unofficial portfolio. Yet Radebe can feel vindicated about his decision to press ahead with the partial listing of Telkom. The exercise was meant to raise R30-billion for the Treasury at the height of the telecoms boom three years ago. When it was undertaken in March the listing raised R6-billion. But as an investment Telkom has done well. From a listing price of R28 in March, the price has shot up to more than R60 on the back of the successful containment of costs and solid performance by subsidiary Vodacom.
The department also successfully revived the sale of the R570-million Komatiland forest after it was derailed by allegations of corruption against department official Andile Nkuhlu.
Radebe continues to meet with fierce resistance from the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union. Last year the union forced the government to change its thinking on restructuring Spoornet. This year the clash was over the concessioning of the Durban port. After a difficult process that required sacrifice from both labour and the government a draft agreement was hammered out and has been taken to the Cabinet for approval. The aim of the agreement is a long-term solution to alleviating congestion in ports. In the meantime, concessioning of operations at the country’s ports has been put on hold for 18 months.
The sale of Eskom’s electricity-generating assets remains on the cards, with 30%, or R30-billion, earmarked for privastisation and a third of that to empowerment groups. This sale is, however, subject to improvement in market conditions, as are other privatisation initiatives such as the partial sale of SAA.
State-owned enterprises are championing the cause of BEE. Earlier this year Transnet awarded a R4-billion fuel supply contract, half of which was to BEE entities.
The transport and logistics parastatal has been strengthened by the appointment of former director general of finance Maria Ramos to head the corporation, just ahead of government’s plans to invest heavily in bolstering the country’s infrastructure.
Yet right now, Transnet is struggling with a debt burden of about R30-billion and possible hedging losses from subsidiary SAA. Despite these setbacks, Radebe has hung in competently, and also spent some time as acting transport minister while Dullah Omar was ill.
Radebe’s grade improves slightly, but mainly because he has had a quieter year without too many controversial political battles of the past.
Stella Sigcau, Minister of Public Works — Grade: C- (2002 D)
The Department of Public Works is the coordinator of the government’s planned expanded public works programme (EPWP), its largest poverty alleviation and job-creation drive ever. The programme is expected to provide skills training opportunities to the unemployed and create more than a million jobs over five years, at a cost of R15-billion.
To many, the thought of handing this responsibility to Stella Sigcau is a worrying one. The minister has almost no public profile and her department’s work, basically managing the state’s R120-billion property portfolio, is dull. Generally the only time attention is drawn to the work of the department is when there has been mismanagement of state property. It is also responsible for making policy and driving BEE for the construction industry as well as the development of small business in the sector. The department lists a number of instances where it has facilitated the entry of small black contractors into the industry by making government contracts available to appropriate enterprises.
However, the EPWP is generally going to be based on successful community-based public works programmes, managed by the department, ramped up to a national scale. These include labour-intensive road-building projects in rural areas and school maintenance projects. The projects were impressive enough to catch the eye of the Cabinet.
The department also seems to have sorted out many of its administrative and financial management issues. The department says its audit report has improved significantly and its spending of its budget is also much better. The minister, who has a reputation for being hands-off, has seemingly put a strong management team in place.
The minister’s grade improves mainly because of the vote of confidence the government has placed in her department by trusting it with the EPWP. It is something she might regret because next year she will be held to account to a much higher standard, given the importance of the programme.
Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Intelligence — Grade: C (2002 B)
Whatever may be said about the Department of Intelligence, our spooks have certainly opened up and become much more transparent about their operations.
With their Golf Day, TV adverts and publication of an annual report, the NIA has certainly shown its commitment to the principles of accountability and transparency.
The minister is also quietly credited with bringing in a younger generation of operatives, who do not carry as much political baggage as those spooks who fought on both sides of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle.
Charged with garnering and correlating intelligence on any internal activity as well as threats to the constitutional order, this department has certainly improved its performance in the past year, with little of the earlier embarrassments of hanging cameras with protruding wires outside the German Embassy or members being caught up in criminal activities.
Under Sisulu, the intelligence services have won a level of public confidence, although the minister has perhaps claimed an easy victory by insisting they are doing their work when ”nothing happens”.
The department has boasted about how it handled the security arrangements for the visit of US President George W Bush, which was marked by big and potentially unruly demonstrations.
A big leap forward in improving the competence of the intelligence services was also taken when the Mzwandile Piliso Campus of the South African National Academy for Intelligence (Sanai) was opened. Sanai is responsible for training personnel for the civilian intelligence services.
But the big question is whether our intelligence services will be used by politicians, especially those in the ruling ANC.
In an embarrassing situation, top NIA official Ricky Nkondo was named as having assisted Mac Maharaj in his attempts to prove that Ngcuka was possibly an apartheid spy. The ”Mac and Mo show” at the Hefer Commission has been linked to bigger political battles within the ANC and the NIA should avoid getting caught up in those. The minister’s grade slips because there is little public sense that she has intervened to make sure this does not happen.
Ben Skosana, Minister of Correctional Services — Grade: F (2002 D-)
Skosana admits that half of South Africa’s 290 000-odd prisoners will again commit crimes once they are released. In short, the department has failed in its core business — rehabilitating criminals. Need we say more?
Actually, yes. It is a bit more complicated than the fact that half the prison population does not learn the error of its ways.
Many return to unemployment, to being socially ostracised and to the hopelessness they left behind. These are functions of social engineering and not for a single government department to handle.
Be that as it may, this department has not moved much to confront the ”challenges” remaining from previous years.
In their own annual report they concede that negligence — read corruption — remains the number one contributor to escapes.
There are still children held with adults and mother and child units have not yet been spread to all the provinces.
Gangs still effectively run the prisons, raping and murdering as they see fit. Jails are still hopelessly overcrowded, rendering a blow to staff morale and prospects of rehabilitation.
Corruption is still rife among those charged with keeping an eye over offenders.
Almost 600 employees have been charged with various types of wrongdoing, including falsifying their qualifications, fraud and abuse of state resources. According to the annual report, the number of personnel fired for corruption has more than doubled. An optimistic view would be that screws are being tightened on the bad apples. The other view would be that there are increasing numbers of corrupt officials.
However, the department’s anti-corruption show, the Jali Commission, continues to create the impression that it is serious about cleaning up its ranks.
Stop-and-start processes such as the electronic monitoring model to supervise paroled prisoners, later suspended because a proper feasibility study was not done, speak of a department that cannot plan action.
Building new prisons only addresses the superstructure, so until there is a coherent plan in place to deal with prisoners, warders and affected society, the new buildings will only be useful in spreading the rot wider.
Although he cannot solely be blamed, the reality is that Skosana has just not done enough to improve the country’s correctional services. He fails.
Zola Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development — Grade: A (2002 C+)
Here is a politician who actually makes an effort to find out how ordinary people in the villages and townships live, and acts on his observations. It is a task not as difficult as many of his colleagues make it out to be.
The results have been patchy. While the department’s bureaucrats know that the minister does not take kindly to people being deprived of the social benefits to which they are entitled, the department’s systems are still unwieldy and too many people fall through the cracks. But the minister is pushing his staff in the right direction and as a result gets the top grade for his efforts.
Skweyiya is known to have continually fought for the increase of the paltry grants that the needy receive and for them to be extended to as many people as possible. In the past year the Department of Social Development has surpassed its targets for the expansion of the social security network by almost a million people. Officially, however, the minister has stuck to the government’s line on a basic income grant for poor families — that there is no guarantee that it will significantly improve the lot of the poor or the country’s economic growth and that the money would probably be better spent on job creation. There is great popular support for the basic income grant among social activists who believe it will greatly relieve poverty among the poorest in the country.
The impact of HIV/Aids, especially the phenomenon of child-headed families, has placed a huge burden on South Africa’s social security services. Skweyiya has come under fire from NGOs that felt that he was in a hurry to rush through the Children’s Bill, which they believed cut children’s rights to the bone. They believed the Bill as it stands does not adequately protect vulnerable children. Skewyiya insists the Bill in its present form reflect what the government can realistically implement.
Although Skweyiya has hailed the work of community NGOs for their efforts in caring for those living with HIV and Aids, he has slammed those he describes as elitists or having a political agenda. As a result, some NGOs still feel they lack a champion in the government. This year Skweyiya also acted to clean up the National Development Agency (NDA). The agency, the main government funder of NGOs, has been plagued by corruption and maladministration. Skewyiya has launched a forensic investigation into the affairs of the agency, despite resistance from some members of its board and staff. The results of the investigation are not yet known.
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Minister of Health — Grade: F for HIV/Aids, C for General Health (2002 F for HIV/Aids, D for General Health)
There has never been a more consistent call for the resignation of any minister than that for the departure of the ”honourable” Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Many lay the blame for the deaths of thousands of South Africans firmly at her door because of her refusal to make anti-retrovirals (ARVs), drugs which are widely accepted to reduce the spread and effects of HIV and Aids, freely available in the public health system.
The M&G considered raising her grade in light of the Cabinet’s acceptance of a national anti-retroviral treatment plan. But the minister is not credited with finally getting the health department to put the plan together. The Cabinet had to drive the process. And she announced the plan with an apparent lack of enthusiasm, saying it should not raise the hopes of the hundreds of thousands desperately needing the medication. Many Aids activists feel that if she had supported an ARV plan and provided political will, rather than simply meekly following Mbeki’s controversial questioning of the link between HIV and Aids and the effectiveness of the drugs, South African would have had a comprehensive treatment plan two years ago.
Her relationship with Aids activists is still ice-cold, with very little credit given to them for placing pressure on pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of the Aids drugs. The strengthening of the health care sector because of the introduction of ARVs will also result in the redress of the inequalities of apartheid.
On the health front Tshabalala-Msimang is to be applauded for attempting to bring tobacco controls in line with international standards. A Bill to amend the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993 was gazetted in October. But only a handful of people have been fined since it was passed into law, by the department’s own admission, and it is unlikely to be able effectively to police the legislation.
To encourage health practitioners to stay in South Africa, Tshabalala-Msimang entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom in October that would allow doctors and nurses to earn pounds and then return home. Their reward? Jobs and pensions will be kept for them. But salaries in the sector are still shockingly low and many doctors still feel that an extra internship year is unfair.
The passing of the controversial National Health Bill that compels private doctors to practise only where government allows has also caused widespread anxiety in young professionals. While the Bill has the laudable aim of providing the same standard and quality of health care for all, it may in fact cause the emigration of young medical professionals.
The minister has also failed to ensure the training of sufficient health care providers in the termination of pregnancy. This has led to early burn-out and high stress levels among existing workers. Second-trimester termination services are also dependent on the presence of a medical doctor, which makes it difficult for women to access these services.
She has been marked up for introducing free health services for people with disabilities and regulating the work of traditional healers under the Traditional Healers Bill, to be enacted next year. The Bill allows for traditional healers to issue medical certificates for sick leave. The minister also needs to be acknowledged for backing the anti-malaria campaign in which South Africa has joined Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe in a regional effort to fight malaria.
But despite these successes, many health activists are praying that she will be removed from the health portfolio after the elections next year.