STATEMENT BY HELEN ZILLE
LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE
10 DECEMBER 2009

President Zuma appointed his Cabinet only seven months ago. We riminali that some Ministers are new to their portfolios and others are new to government altogether. We are also alive to the fact that some portfolios are new, some have merged and others have split. The DA's 2009 Cabinet Report Card makes some allowance for these factors.

Overall, Cabinet's performance this year (an average of 4.9 out of ten for each minister) was a slight improvement on last year, where Cabinet scored 4.6 overall. This overall score, while still not technically a ‘pass', bodes somewhat better for the performance of ministers going forward, particularly those who are still short on experience.  

What is significant about this year's report card is the relatively poor performance of the most senior members of Cabinet - President Zuma and Deputy President Motlanthe - who scored 3 and 5.5 respectively. Last year, the corresponding scores for the two positions were 8 and 7.

It is very difficult to give Zuma a single mark because his performance varies radically on different indicators. For charm, he gets 9 out of 10. If he was judged solely on his commitment to fighting HIV/Aids denialism he would get a 7 or an 8. But, when it comes to leadership and his commitment to the Constitution, he fails with 1 out of 10.

We settled on 3 out of 10 as an overall mark for the President. 

President Zuma is warm, approachable and affable - characteristics which have disarmed many people. As a result, his popularity ratings are growing.  To be sure, a good leader must have the capacity to be diplomatic and charismatic. But leadership is much more than that.  Charisma never saved a constitution.  

Unless he is stopped, Jacob Zuma will be remembered, in ten years time, as the President who destroyed our Constitution. Instead of providing an effective brake on power abuse, independent institutions are becoming extensions of the ANC, and instruments of the party's abuse of power.

The clearest example of such power abuse is the dramatic events that played themselves out in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) this year.  First, we had the firing of National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Vusi Pikoli (undertaken on behalf of Zuma by caretaker President Kgalema Motlanthe).  In the absence of any rational explanation, the only reason for Pikoli's axing was that he refused to drop fraud and corruption charges against Jacob Zuma. 

Next came the decision by caretaker NDPP, Mokotedi Mpshe to withdraw all charges against Zuma on what can only be described as irrational grounds.  The culmination of the assault on the NPA was Zuma's appointment of Menzi Simelane, who has a history of resisting the constitutionally enshrined independence of the NDPP.  Through this appointment, President Zuma effectively put Colonel Sanders in charge of the chickens.  A similar travesty played itself out in the Judicial Services Commission, another key institution of the constitution, whose independence was seriously compromised in the past year, with lasting consequences for the health of our democracy. 

This series of events is the real measure of the Zuma Presidency.  His recent professions of loyalty to the Constitution must be weighed against his deeds.

All of these actions are designed to undermine the criminal justice system and protect Zuma and his political associates from prosecution. This kind of selective justice is the very antithesis of the fundamental constitutional principle that all should be equal before the law.

Overall, his presidency has been marked by a yawning gap between words and action; a triumph of style over substance. This extends beyond his questionable commitment to the Constitution.

In his State of the Nation address, Zuma promised that 500 000 jobs would be created before the end of the year, announced a new era of prudent government expenditure and set ambitious targets for the roll-out of anti-retroviral (ARV) medication. Barely seven months later, economic data points to a million job losses for the year and R320 million has been spent on ministerial vehicles, functions and other wasteful items. The Health Minister has conceded that Zuma's ARV targets will not be met.

Deputy President Kgalame Motlanthe's performance can best be described as middling. He has done some good work in setting up poverty alleviation and HIV/Aids programmes and, as leader of government business, has demonstrated an intention to take Parliament seriously.

His failure to account for his role in the Oil-for-Food scandal, his reversion to a softly-softly approach towards Robert Mugabe and his bizarre attack on victims of farm murders counted heavily against him.

The highest mark bestowed on any Cabinet Minister was 8.5, which was awarded to the new Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan. Minister Gordhan has taken over where his predecessor, Trevor Manuel, left off. For his commitment to curb inflation, manage public debt and eliminate unnecessary expenditure (including opting for a modest ministerial vehicle himself) he receives the highest mark.

The second highest performer is Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk. He is one of the most knowledgeable and ‘hands-on' ministers in the Cabinet and is not afraid to take tough decisions when required.

At the bottom of the class with 2.5 out of 10 are the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana, and Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya.

Minister Mdladlana is in his second term in this portfolio and has still recorded no accomplishments to speak of. Mdladlana has stuck doggedly to the SETA model of skills transfer which has cost millions of rands and achieved very little. His assault on labour brokers, labeling them "slave traders" and "human traffickers", revealed his inability to grapple with our unemployment crisis in a level-headed, results-driven fashion. Instead of creating jobs, he will destroy millions of jobs by riminalizing temporary work. 

Minster Mayende-Sibiya, for her part, faces the daunting task of taking on a brand new portfolio. But she has not risen to the challenge at all. She has no clear programme of action, tending to intervene in an ad-hoc, uncoordinated manner. She has, for example, been seized with the issue of forced marriages, but said little about the high incidence of rape and domestic violence. Her failure to turn up at the first public hearing of the Domestic Violence Act spoke volumes. This is an opportunity missed for what should be a key portfolio.  

Overall, the Cabinet did not fare too badly (in comparison with previous years), with 19 ministers out of 34 achieving a score of 5 or higher. That the President lags some distance behind most of his Cabinet is cause for concern.  

In the long term, Zuma will be judged not on his charm or his ability to say what people want to hear. He will be appraised on concrete action and leadership.   This sometimes requires him to say things that people do not want to hear.  This is especially important in defence of the Constitution.  Jacob Zuma's real litmus test will be his commitment to uphold the Constitution. He is already failing this test in rather dramatic fashion.

REPORT CARD SCORES:

Statement issued by DA leader, Helen Zille, on December 10 2009

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