Dear Editor
The DA has today submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to the Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, requesting that she release the outcome of performance reviews that were conducted on Cabinet Ministers between April and July 2023.
While responding to a DA parliamentary question on ministerial performance assessments, Ramokgopa revealed that ‘Performance management was conducted with Ministers between April and July 2023.’ Since signing performance agreements with Ministers in 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa has not lived up to the commitment he made to enhance accountability through a structured performance management system at the executive level because of the failure to either conduct or publish periodic performance reviews.
The DA strongly believes that it is in the public interest that progress reports on the performance of Ministers are accessible to South Africans. Ramokgopa should therefore lift the veil of secrecy around the reviews conducted between April and July 2023 and make them available publicly as a matter of urgency.
Considering the multitude of crises facing the country at the moment, and the cluelessness of the ANC government to effectively address them, it is not surprising why Ramaphosa’s government will want to keep the performance reviews a secret. The cost of living has driven consumers to the edge, load-shedding has become progressively worse, unemployment is at an all-time high, Treasury has issued a red alert warning that the country’s public coffers are empty, SOEs have collapsed and crime has become a national pandemic.
To cap it all off, Ramaphosa’s new dawn has irretrievably collapsed. The country is essentially on autopilot as the ANC fumbles in the dark while Rome is burning. If they still cared about South Africa’s future, Ramaphosa and his poverty cabinet should have resigned en masse by now.
The only recourse available to South Africans is to vote out Ramaphosa and his entire poverty cabinet in 2024. We therefore call on Ramokgopa to release the ministerial performance reviews so that South Africans are clear on how the ANC government has badly managed the country and brought it to the brink of financial ruin.
Regards
Zak Mbhele MP
DA Shadow Minister in the Presidency
2nd Hand Joe
It is wise to remember that firefighters fight fire with water before you fight fire with fire
Sir Shove
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?