Opposition party ActionSA has released a detailed one-year review of South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU), delivering a scathing verdict that the coalition has broadly failed across multiple metrics.
According to Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip, ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker—covering ethics, economy, infrastructure, basic services, education, and crime—demonstrates widespread underperformance. The GNU received four ‘F’ grades and one ‘D’, culminating in an overall “E” rating.
Key findings include:
- Ethical Leadership: Expanded cabinet and excessive executive travel, including R350–R400 million spent on travel alone, earned an ‘F’ as ministers remained unaccountable.
- Economic Growth: Expanded unemployment (now over 43%), stagnant GDP under 1%, and low global competitiveness led to another ‘F’.
- Basic Services & Education: Failure to improve sanitation and education outcomes earned ‘F’ and ‘E’ respectively due to persistent bucket toilets and evaporating matric cohort throughput.
- Infrastructure: A marginal ‘D’ rating—ports have declined in global rankings, rail freight remains weak, and frequent loadshedding persists.
- Crime and Governance: High levels of corruption and insufficient law enforcement contributed to another ‘F’.
Trollip emphasised that “cooperation without reform is meaningless,” highlighting that the GNU has failed to initiate bold policies or meaningful governance changes.
ActionSA has vowed to pursue legislative action—including the Cut Cabinet Perks Bill and a forthcoming Zero Tolerance Corruption Bill—to force structural reforms within the GNU.
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