Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was rated an “E” by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party in its annual Cabinet Report card, only marginally above her boss, President Jacob Zuma who is also Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces.
Other ministers involved in South Africa’s defence and security sectors – Lynne Brown of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba of Home Affairs and David Mahlobo of State Security as well as Police Minister Nathi Nhleko – also didn’t rate highly.
Zuma was given the worst possible mark – an “F-“. According to the largest single opposition party in Parliament he “utterly failed South Africa on all counts, violating the Constitution and his oath of office and inflicting incalculable damage to the economy and South Africa’s international reputation”.
“In any other democracy his presidency would not have survived 2016,” DA leader Mmusi Maimane said.
Mapisa-Nqakula was rated nominally above Zuma, scoring an “E” on the DA report card.
“In our harsh economic climate, the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans must reposition itself and reprioritise expenses to fit into the available resources provided by Treasury. They must ‘cut their cloth to size’ and accept South Africa is not in a conventional warfare situation.
“Unfortunately, the Minister is doing just the opposite: her unwavering demand for a new presidential jet calls into question her fitness to lead the Ministry. She irrationally commits to providing ever-greater luxury for the President and his friends, while ignoring the constitutional role of the military. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Inkwazi – the only problem is the lack of funding allocated to maintaining military equipment. Buying a new jet won’t solve that problem it will just be an unacceptable waste of public money.
“Within its own financial and skills abilities, the Department of Defence and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) must fulfil their obligations, as is expected of them. If the Minister’s mismanagement of defence matters continues, the armed forces will slide inevitably further into chaos and incompetence,” the report card notes.
Mapisa-Nqakula is also taken to task for not having a clearly articulated vision for the Defence Ministry and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
“She seems to be more focused on ensuring luxury travels for the President by procuring a new intercontinental VIP jet, than making efforts to rebuild the SANDF’s capability via the implementation of the Defence Review. Progress toward achieving Milestone 1 of the Review – simply to halt the decline in military capability – is haphazard and vague,” according to the report card, which adds her statements are sometimes at odds with those of senior military officials.
The Department of Military Veterans (DMV) is “dysfunctional” and service delivery to military veterans is very poor with previous statutory forces not receiving the same benefits as previous non-statutory forces.
Mapisa-Nqakula’s attendance in the National Assembly and at portfolio committee meetings is said to be poor.
The report card also notes her written responses to parliamentary questions “require improvement and can be described as average at best”.
Additionally, she relies increasingly on national security concerns to avoid making information regarding the Department of Defence’s policies and activities available “despite occasionally releasing sensitive information through non-Parliamentary channels herself”. This is in reference to the cost of the new VVIP jet.
Of Public Enterprises Minister Lynn Brown, under whose jurisdiction state-owned defence industry conglomerate Denel operates, the report card said “she has lost all credibility” and gets an “F” rating. Brown approved the appointment of the new Denel board, which has been accused of unlawfully establishing Denel Asia with the Gupta-connected VR Laser, and diverting Badger infantry fighting vehicle contracts from Land Mobility Technologies to VR Laser.
Home Affairs Minister Gigaba, whose department is the lead agency for the still-to-be activated Border Management Authority (BMA), is given a “D”.
“On occasions where the Minister does provide policy direction, he shows disregard for his own processes by introducing bills that conflict with draft policy positions. Such is the position on the Green Paper on Migration. While this policy document is under consideration, the department has introduced two bills – the Border Management Authority Bill and the Refugee Amendment Bill. Both these bills have a direct impact on government’s policy on migration. Instead of finalising the policy on migration and then introducing the above bills, he has put the ‘cart before the horse’,” the report card said.
State Security Minister Mahlobo earned an “F”. Contributing to this were, among others, the non-finalisation of “a substantial amount of business this year” and not a single sitting of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence between May and September.
The Minister of Police also earned an “F” rating from the DA with the party noting Nkosinathi Nhleko “personifies everything that is wrong in the Police portfolio: poor leadership, skewed priorities and a lack of accountability”.
The SA Police Service under him remains “under-staffed, under-equipped, under-trained and under-funded”.
