SCORE: C Public Service and Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi has, so far, managed to avoid a deadlock with unions for the 2025-26 and beyond wage negotiations. In October, the government and unions agreed to continue the wage negotiations for the country’s roughly 1.3 million civil servants after Mzamo’s department tabled a 4.7% increase for the […]
SCORE: B- When President Cyril Ramaphosa separated science and higher education once more, Nobuhle Nkabane took on the most nebulous of public demands: rebuilding trust. South Africa’s greatest frustrations have been borne out on campuses over the past decade. A strong student sentiment of resistance grew, while the failings of the National Student Financial Aid […]
SCORE: C Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has had a mixed performance. The department allocated R2 billion through the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, benefiting more than 80 000 small businesses and cooperatives and creating nearly 100 000 jobs. She initiated programmes to enhance trade opportunities and retail placement for small enterprises. The minister also oversaw initiatives such as distributing point-of-sale equipment […]
SCORE: C- Sindisiwe Chikunga has been in her post for a few months, but she was the woman in charge when the National Council of Provinces’ select committee on social services commended her department for achieving its first clean audit and improving its performance outcomes from 81% in the 2022-23 financial year to 88% in […]
SCORE: D- Known for her flamboyant hats and headdress, Pemmy Majodina has big shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Senzo Mchunu, drew widespread praise for his tireless efforts to turn around the department, which had been hollowed out by state capture. She is still in the early stages of her tenure and under close scrutiny and […]
SCORE: F- So broken and badly managed is the department of defence that three men on a donkey with a duct-taped drone could possibly topple Pretoria. The department incurred unauthorised expenditure of R3.4 billion in 2023-24, making it not so much a department as a place where taxpayer money goes to cough up and die. […]
SCORE: B In his first six months leading the department of trade, industry and competition, Parks Tau has made effective moves. He led the delegation to the United States to lobby for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) agreement. Alongside other African ministers of trade Tau urged the Biden administration and […]
SCORE: C+ One of the first actions of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania president on taking office was to drop his plan to scrap section 25 of the Constitution and to instead focus on using existing legislation to secure access to land. Mzwanele Nyhontsho inherited a backlog of just over 5 700 land claims from […]
SCORE: B Leon Schreiber did two laudable things after he landed at the home affairs department. First, he conceded what every South African and many foreigners know — the litany of incompetence, backlogs and corruption. Second, he decided to revive the Immigration Advisory Board, which his predecessors had mothballed despite it being mandatory in law. […]
SCORE: E Besides filling up venues for the ANC Women’s League prayer evenings and marches against gender-based violence, one has to scratch one’s head to figure out exactly what Sisisi Tolashe’s track record as minister is. She took over the department after serving in the sixth administration as the deputy minister in the presidency for […]