Presidency refuses to release performance assessment outcomes for Cabinet Ministers
28 November 2023
In a stunning development that underscores the continued disdain for accountability and transparency by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, his Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, has declined the DA’s PAIA application for outcomes of the performance reviews that were conducted on Ministers between April and July 2023.
Ramokgopa erroneously made reference to Chapter 1, Section 12(c) of the PAIA Act of 2000 as justification for her decision. It is our considered view that the Ramokgopa misdirected herself, as the performance review assessments were the outcome of performance agreements that Ramaphosa entered into in public with his Cabinet, in their capacity as members of the Executive.
The performance review assessments can never be classified material as, firstly, members of the Cabinet are accountable to Parliament for the performance of their functions, as per section 92(2) of the Constitution and, secondly, information on how Cabinet Ministers are performing in their portfolios is in the public interest.
The DA will therefore be submitting an appeal to contest Ramokgopa’s decision in terms of Section 74 of the PAIA Act. Ramokgopa cannot hide behind a tenuous and erroneous understanding of the law to deny South Africans the right to know how Ramaphosa’s Cabinet Ministers have performed over the past 5 years, and a year before the watershed national elections.