Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga
SCORE: F
The year 2025 was a baptism of fire for Motshekga, one of the worst performing ministers in the government of national unity.
After South African soldiers were sent on an ill-fated deployment in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and returned home with bloody noses, humiliated by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who took over Goma, the capital of North Kuvi, Sake and other cities, Motshekga had to face fire from parliament where she had to explain why our army were in the DRC in the first place, and why they were sent there unprepared for the war.
It was at that point that South Africans remembered that they had a defence minister – one who has absolutely no idea what’s happening in the force, with generals speaking over her on operational and budgetary matters. She flip flopped, unable to explain whether the South African National Defence Force troops were there as an offensive force or a peacekeeping force.
And if they were a peacekeeping force, why were they fighting alongside Polish mercenaries, the Congolese army and the genocidal FDLR, which is killing Congolese Tutsi in the area and shelling across the border in Rwanda. Motshekga, whose tenure as education minister was disastrous, clearly found herself thrown in the deep end as defence minister, presiding over a force hamstrung by budget cuts and which has become a shadow of its former self, raising questions about the security of the country, including at its land borders.