JUSTICE MALALA | The public will carry out its performance assessments at next year’s election

World Aids Day was marked in rather muted fashion across the globe on December 1. There were some speeches by politicians, events by non-governmental organisations and even businesses, but otherwise it was just another day despite the fact that millions remain afflicted by the virus and hundreds of thousands have died this year from diseases associated with HIV.

For South Africans today and for SA’s post-Thabo Mbeki leaders, December 1 is a date that should continue to be a reminder, a rebuke and a warning. It reminds us that we lost thousands of people infected with HIV who could have been saved if government had provided retroviral drugs timeously and responsibly. Under Mbeki, the government spent years indulging in debates about the efficacy of such drugs and even the existence of the virus itself.

Scientific evidence was trashed and insulted. People’s lives became a political football. Mothers watched their children die young. It is one of the most shameful periods of post-apartheid South Africa and it stands as a rebuke to the megalomania of the president of the time and the spinelessness of his cabinet, of the ANC executive and of the party’s broad membership. More than anyone else, ANC members know the horror of what happened in those days as they watched their comrades and leaders die frightfully young from a disease whose name they were too cowardly to speak.

December 1 is also a day which presents a stark warning that people will not take unresponsive governments and their arrogance forever. Civil society organisations, activists, businesses, ordinary mothers and parents rallied and spoke against the government’s unreasonableness and cruelty as it continued to refuse to provide antiretroviral drugs.

The courts were used in unprecedented ways by activist Zackie Achmat and his comrades to force the Mbeki administration to abandon its unconstitutional stance. The lesson from that terrible age is that no matter how arrogant and unaccountable a leader and his yes-men may be, the people’s voice shall be heard.

The performance of a minister has nothing to do with whether they stay in office or not. Instead, the fact that they bring support for the president from a certain constituency is paramount.

On the surface, it may seem that the DA’s months-long attempts to get the President Cyril Ramaphosa to release the performance assessments of his ministers has nothing to do with arrogant and distant leadership. Yet, the president should be warned: he and his administration come across as unresponsive, distant, unfeeling, unaccountable — and there will be consequences. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said last week that the assessments would not be made public because “the purpose is not to embarrass anybody or hang people to dry out in public”.

He went on to say: “The purpose is to be constructive and find ways to immediately intervene where there are gaps.”

The country has been in absolute despair about the many ills that afflict us. We all know these problems and we all know that they need urgent and effective action by ministers. None has been forthcoming. And none of these ministers has been reprimanded or fired.

Ramaphosa has, on numerous counts, vowed to hold his ministers accountable. So far, he has not. The only head that has fallen due to Eskom non-performance is that of Andre de Ruyter or board members. What about the minister responsible? At Transnet, the CEO has been showed the door. What about the minister responsible? Crime is rampant and getting worse by the day. Why hasn’t the police minister been held accountable?

The truth is that our ministers are not appointed for their hunger to solve our problems, but for their standing in the tripartite alliance. The performance of a minister has nothing to do with whether they stay in office or not. Instead, the fact that they bring support for the president from a certain constituency is paramount.

Sihle Zikalala and Bheki Cele bring in the KZN support. But what has Zikalala done to solve the problem of the construction mafias in KZN? What has Cele done about murder and mayhem across the country? Again, these ministers are accountable to no-one because if they are held to account, they might move their supporters to the Jacob Zuma faction of the party.

In his press conference presidency spokesperson Magwenya said something revealing: “What you have with these performance assessments are discussions between an employer and his employees in terms of assessing progress on the priorities that have been outlined.”

He is dead wrong. Ramaphosa is the CEO of SA Inc, but he is as much an employee as Gwede Mantashe and Blade Nzimande are. The employer is the people of South Africa. The people pay the taxes, the people choose the party in power, and the people deserve the performance assessments that the president promised.

It may not happen this week or next month, but the more the government behaves in a manner that is arrogant and which intimates that it is disdainful of the people who put them in power, the more likely it is that there will be a response and a backlash. World Aids Day reminds us what happens to leaders who hold the people in contempt.