By Paul Vecchiatto
Cape Town, Dec 12 (I-Net Bridge) - President Jacob Zuma received an "F" and the average cabinet score was a "D", according to the Democratic Alliance's (DA) annual cabinet report card.
The DA said that Zuma did not defend the Constitution and, instead, attacked it.
"Since he was appointed president, the Judicial services, the organ of state charged with protecting the 'independence, impartiality, dignity accessibility and effectiveness of the courts', has been politicised to the point where a majority of the representatives are ANC political appointments," DA Parliamentary Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said.
However, it was not all bad marks as the DA said that promisingly, of the 29 ministers that were in their same Cabinet positions this time last year, 15 either kept the same score or improved their grade this year.
The best performing Cabinet member, the only one to be awarded an "A", was Science & Technology Minister Naledi Pandor due to her dedicated lobbying for SA to host the prestigious Square Kilometer Array telescope, while being one of the most regular Cabinet attendees in the National Assembly.
Other high achievers were Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, and the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan.
Those ministers who scored most poorly this year were Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele, minister of Transport S'bu Ndebele, Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel, Minster of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa, and Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana.
Some ministers improved compared to last year. Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma improved from a "D" to a "C+", Minister of Energy Dipuo Peters improved from a "C" to a "C+", Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande received a "D" compared to last year's "F", and Minister of Public Service & Administration Richard Baloyi rose to a grade "D" from an "E" previously.
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