PRETORIA, South Africa – South Africa’s 10-party coalition turns one this month, but signed ministerial performance agreements – an important accountability tool – are still nowhere in sight. The agreements, meant to outline specific targets and responsibilities for each of the 32 ministers and 44 deputy ministers in the expanded Cabinet, have yet to materialize since the GNU’s formation in June 2024.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Daily Maverick this week that “the process is under way and remains between the President and the concerned members of Cabinet. There are enough public accountability measures through Parliament when APPs (annual performance plans) are presented and assessed.” However, opposition parties and political analysts have raised concerns about the prolonged delay.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said Cabinet ministers would only sign performance contracts once the 2024-29 Medium-Term Development Plan, which outlines the key priorities for the seventh administration, had been approved. The Medium-Term Development Plan was approved by the Cabinet in February, but ministers’ performance agreements still seem some way off.
Political analysts warn the absence creates uncertainty. Bhaso Ndzende, an associate professor of politics and international relations at the University of Johannesburg, wrote, exactly how each minister is to contribute to the realisation of these priorities is unclear in the absence of performance agreements. Political analyst Professor Susan Booysen warned that without clear expectations, tensions in the coalition could worsen, especially ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
“These agreements are crucial,” Booysen said. “They clearly define what is expected of each minister and help prevent overlaps or overreach, which we’ve already seen within the coalition.”
Coalition partners have expressed strong support for transparency. DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp told Daily Maverick that “there [haven’t] been any targets that have been set”. “We believe, from the DA’s side, that it is very important to get targets set. You must have measurables to be measured on,” he said. Aucamp said the DA supported making the contracts public, for South Africans to assess the work of the executive. “Should the President not make [them] public, the ministers from the DA will make their targets public, as well as the achievement thereon,” he said.
Wouter Wessels, MP and national spokesperson for the FF Plus, said the party believed the finalising of ministerial performance agreements was taking too long. On whether to make them public, Wessels said: “There is no need to keep such agreements secret.” “Effective accountability can only take place in the presence of transparency,” he said.
IFP Deputy Minister for Transport Mkhuleko Hlengwa described performance contracts as “important tools to measure performances against the desired and set targets”. “The IFP ministers and deputy ministers are visibly hard at work with or without the performance agreements because they know the commitments and the agreements they made with the voters,” he said.
Good’s secretary-general Brett Herron said the party “fully [supports] meaningful performance agreements for members of the executive” and expected them to be “concluded soon” given that the Medium-Term Development Plan had been adopted and the Budget had been tabled in Parliament. He said: “We must remember that the GNU Cabinet was appointed in June 2024 – thus the executive has really been implementing the final few months of the previous term of office’s performance plans. The delay in finalising the performance agreements is somewhat explicable in this context, though it is reasonable for the South African public to expect performance agreements to be wrapped up now and ready for signature.”
The President pledged in the 2020 State of the Nation Address that these agreements would be made public so that the people of South Africa could hold those who they elected into office to account. However, while agreements from the previous administration were published online, progress assessments were never made public.
The delay raises questions about accountability in Africa’s most industrialized democracy. Previously, the ministerial performance agreements of the sixth administration were based on the 2019-2024 Medium-Term Strategic Framework, and ran from June 2019 to April 2024. With the GNU approaching its second year, stakeholders continue pressing for concrete performance metrics to ensure effective governance.
