The Mail & Guardian‘s annual report card is always picked apart in the weeks after the paper’s year-end edition. Last year’s report was no exception and a number of government spokespersons wrote to the paper to contest the results.
Eddie Mohoebi, head of communication at the department of rural development, clearly felt that minister Gugile Nkwinti deserved better than an E. Mohoebi chided the paper for failing to mention that “within three months of its establishment, the new department of rural development and land reform had developed a clear vision, mission and strategies”. He also complained that the paper had failed to recognise the ministry had committed itself to resuscitating all land-reform projects”.
If Mohoebi was angered by the paper’s failure to take into account good intentions when grading the minister, he may have been horrified by the results of our readers’ poll. Es and Fs predominated the reader rankings and between the 36 ministers, not a single A was scored. The results of the M&G‘s report card and the readers’ poll were roughly aligned but it seems our readers are harsher and more critical than our journalists.
It’s clear that in the court of public opinion, visible action and tangible results will always be more highly regarded than all the good intentions and bureaucratic paper-pushing that goes on in government offices.
Top of the class
The top five ministers as voted for by M&G readers were Pravin Gordhan (finance), Barbara Hogan (public enterprises), Trevor Manuel (minister in the presidency), Aaron Motsoaledi (health) and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
Pravin Gordhan
Pravin Gordhan, the man held most directly responsible for the health of the economy, has one of the toughest jobs in the Cabinet. And for setting out a path of sound governance, redistribution and the competitiveness the M&G gave Gordhan a shining A. Our readers may also have been pleased with Gordhan but not enough to hand out that elusive A. He scored a C for trust and Bs for delivery and bling.
Barbara Hogan
If the admirable former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan hadn’t been sacked, the M&G would have given her a very good grade. Hogan was respected for her patience and her efforts to reform governance structures at state-owned enterprises in a way that would enhance accountability and limit meddling. The paper never got that opportunity but readers showed their appreciation by giving her the second highest grade of all the ministers. She scored a C for trust, B for delivery and C for bling.
Trevor Manuel
Despite his “self-imposed hibernation”, the M&G gave Trevor Manuel a solid C, saying the one-time superstar of government had been swallowed up by the Union Buildings where he is poring over research reports to put together a 15-year national plan to improve the country. But readers gave even the generally well-liked Manuel a D for trust and Cs for delivery and bling.
Aaron Motsoaledi
Aaron Motsoaledi earned an A in the paper’s report card, not only for successfully renegotiating antiretroviral drug tenders and saving government over R4-billion but also for his hands-on, consultative approach to overhauling the country’s crumbling health system. But even a minister as well-liked as Motsoaledi could not earn an A from readers. He scored a D for trust and Cs for delivery and bling.
Kgalema Motlanthe
Because his office has few defined functions, the M&G struggled to grade Motlanthe. The paper praised his refusal to be swayed by popular sentiment and his courage in taking up minority positions, and applauded his oversight of the Soccer World Cup, the South African National Aids council and the Human Resource Development Council. The paper awarded the deputy president a praiseworthy B. Yet, while he did round out readers’ top five, he only managed to garner Cs for trust and delivery and a D for bling from readers.
The bottom of the class
There were three instances in which readers and government saw eye to eye. The M&G never did grade Noluthando Mayende Sibiya, the erstwhile minister of half the country (also known as Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities), former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda or the elusive sports minister Makhenkhesi Stofile as all three of them were unceremoniously sacked by the president during an unprecedented Cabinet reshuffle late in the year. These three scored the absolute worst on our readers poll, with Fs for trust and Gs for delivery and bling.
Despite their poor performance and poor public reputations, two ministers managed to hang on to their positions through the Ccabinet reshuffle. For readers, they rounded out the bottom five.
Siyabonga Cwele
Between a wife facing smuggling charges, the introduction of the controversial Protection of Information Bill, and a host of unfinished department business, Cwele scored a D on the M&G‘s official report card. Our readers were not so kind. The state security minister garnered an F for trust and Gs for delivery and bling.
Blade Nzimande
After sacking high-ranking and well respected senior staffers within days of each other, Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande narrowly missed out on a B from the M&G, earning instead a C. This puts him somewhere in the middle of the ministerial pack. However for readers he was practically rock bottom, having garnered straight Fs for trust, delivery and bling.
All the results