Cabinet scorecards 2020-2021 This scorecard is based on a desk research involving assessment by governance experts, political analysts and commentators, academics and policy researchers on how members of cabinet have performed their duties between March 2020 and March 2021. The comments made on each member were jointly drafted by respondents and Namibian Sun. Hage Geingob 4/10President
Geingob displays all the hallmarks of a lame-duck president, uninterested in what is happening around him. In the middle of a deadly pandemic, he makes his cameo appearances once in a while, he is often linked to unsavoury characters in the corruption underworld yet he does not defend himself. In the midst of an economic crisis, he never managed to outline a clear path and strategy and instead continues to blame external factors for Namibia’s woes. Namibia needs visionary leadership and the courage to chart new and different paths to set the country on the road to recovery. Geingob has not managed to do that.
Nangolo Mbumba: 1/10
Vice-President
Businessman Mbumba seems virtually absent from any national platforms of leading and decision-making. His only appearances in public seem to be those alongside the president during Covid-19 press conferences but he hardly makes any contributions worth writing home about. Perhaps the only notable contribution Mbumba has made was to open the nation’s eyes that this portfolio was just a scheme to appease comrades who have passed their sell-by-date, at the taxpayer’s expense.
Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila 3/10
Prime minister
Clearly confused about her role, she swings between appearing as a principled leader and somewhat of an opportunist, as recently revealed with the liquidation of Air Namibia. The one day she agreed with cabinet and when the opportunity presented itself, she attempted to enhance her political chances by leading a Swapo meeting professing amnesia about a collective decision made in her presence. The OPM purports the vision of “a better Namibia which is driven by innovative and citizen-centric public service”. With all important indicators on a negative trend, it is hard to find evidence of a “better Namibia”.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah 3/10
International relations
One of her key deliverables was to conclude the genocide negotiations and facilitate consensus on the model of reparations. This was not concluded. It was also expected of her to secure strategic deployment of Namibians into multilateral organisations; this has not been done either. Namibians have no knowledge what MIRCO is doing to promote and execute the country’s foreign policy, and despite taxpayers spending millions to sustain foreign missions, there is no accountability in the form of reporting back to the public how mission heads are performing. She has a habit of issuing statements condemning overseas events, such as the killing of American George Floyd while staying mum on internal killings such as those committed by the Botswana army. Maybe her presidential ambitions are taking up her time from her real government work.
Albert Kawana 2/10
Fisheries
Dr Kawana’s handicap is politics. He is neither technical, nor does he take independent decisions without being influenced by politics (pleasing his appointing authority and his party). He has failed to inspire any confidence that the fishing industry will be cleaned up or that his ministry is ready to move into a new era of openness. The fact that he used the so-called ‘Esau Act’ to allocate new fishing rights erodes his credibility and exacerbates the notion that he too is captured by parochial interest.
Iipumbu Shiimi 6/10
Finance
Too early to tell because he is new in government and he got baptism of fire from the Covid-19 pandemic. He was brave and bold in dealing with the Covid-19 relief measures such as the emergency income grant. He was also instrumental in the closure of the loss-making Air Namibia. He has opened the space for more support and engagements for SMEs, economic incentives and funding of industrialisation.
Peter Vilho 2/10
Defence
Just a year in office, Peter Vilho came in with high expectations, especially considering that his two predecessors did not have a strong military background. A decorated naval commander with a strong education background, many expected Vilho to transform the country’s defence sector into a modern and lean structure. Years of corruption scandals plagued the ministry; however, his arrival seems to have perpetuated the trend instead of reversing it. A technocrat by nature, he was thrown into the deep political end where military powers matter little. Claims of dubious procurement processes under his watch and procuring goods and services at inflated prices have not helped his reputation. Vilho’s spats in newspapers with the Affirmative Repositioning leader made things worse. One of his key tasks, as per his performance agreement, included reforming agencies under his ministry such as August 26 Holdings. He did little in that regard.
John Mutorwa 5/10
Works
What happened to the John Mutorwa of yesteryear? Has he overstayed his welcome in government? RCC remains under judicial management with no clear plan forward, while employee salaries are still paid from government’s contingency fund. He has not under-performed nor has he excelled. Just there!
Doreen Sioka 2/10
Gender equality
Why is she still in office? She has shown over a number of years that she is incapable of leading the campaign against gender-based violence and for women's and children's rights in general. Has no clue how paternalistic society and toxic masculinity work. Her language and choice of words are always stuck in the past. The #ShutItAllDown protests last year just crystalised the issue. She should go.
Frans Kapofi 4/10
Home affairs
The standards of service that improved when Pendukeni Ithana was at Home Affairs have gone backwards - with no signs that the issue of poor customer service is being addressed. He has also indulged in ugly xenophobia - such as blaming refugees for drug-related crimes. If he has presidential ambitions, he should drop them.
Lucia Ipumbu 5/10
Industrialisation
Namibia's FDI is at an all-time low and there has been no concerted effort to boost investment despite the recognition that government finances are in no position to spur growth. It seems that any investment drive is now being left to the new board headed by Nangula Uuandja. Her performance may have been neutral in many respects but she needs to pick up the pace.
Dr Kalumbi Shangula 7/10
Health
They say that a situation may shape a leader positively or negatively. But for Dr Shangula, he seems to fit the mantra of a positive-shaped situational leader who in the midst of a Covid-19 crisis managed to put together a robust response system in the shortest time early in his tenure. Right from the get-go he was in charge and his leadership probably has saved Namibia from the worst-case scenario. He does face a major challenge in making sure the vaccine roll-out is effective and he loses a mark for transgressing the regulations when he attended a large funeral gathering in the early days of the pandemic.
Leon Jooste 5/10
Public enterprises
Jooste speaks big but does little to implement his words. Indecisive on loss-making public entities such as RCC, Agribusdev and others. The only thing he got spot on was closing down the waste that was Air Namibia. We acknowledge that the efforts of his ministry have been met with great resistance, but he is not cracking the whip hard enough. His privatisation agenda isn’t transparent enough, hence reservations among particularly the previously disadvantaged communities.
Utoni Nujoma 4 /10
Labour
Utoni is the Mabena of Geingob’s cabinet. Labour is a fairly low-key portfolios where the ‘son of the nation’ could have stepped up boldly, such as during the Shoprite strike. During the strike, the ministry took several weeks to respond and then just issued a press statement instead of decisively intervening by calling the company to order. The country remains without sectoral minimum wages, and workers continue to suffer abuse and exploitation. He is really underperforming and struggling to make that ministry relevant and visible. Deadwood!
Yvonne Dausab 7/10
Justice
She is definitely the positive addition to the cabinet. She is competent and has a passion for human rights - an integral necessity for any cabinet member, but certainly for the justice portfolio. She is a good communicator, and that came in very handy to communicate the myriad, often confusing, Covid-19 regulations. Her presence is always felt. It is such a pleasure to have a minister not preoccupied with expensive suits and outer appearances, and more with her portfolio.
Itah Kandjii-Murangi 3/10
Higher education
Since our last rating, the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund continued to be in agonising shape. Grade 11 graduates remain in the dark, as they continue to be rejected by state universities, evidently because of poor planning and coordination. Many SOEs under the ministry remain without boards and infighting as an order of the day, because there’s seemingly no authority.
Erastus Uutoni 3/10
Urban & rural development
He was ushered into this portfolio following his many years of serving as councillor and mayor at Ongwediva town council. Local authorities across the country are synonymous with infights, underfunding, forced removals and underfunding. Mass housing units remain unoccupied in many towns and the project remains idle, despite the acute shortage of housing in the country.
Agnes Tjongarero 3/10
Youth and sport
Namibian youth remain largely hopeless and at the periphery of the mainstream economy. There isn’t a clear plan to reverse this. The Namibian football league remains idle and the impact of this has been witnessed at both Afcon U-20 and CHAN championships earlier this year. To her credit, she tried taking on the big boys of Fifa regarding issues at NFA, but this has only resulted in threats to expel Namibia from the world football governing body’s family of nations.
Pohamba Shifeta 6/10
Environment & Tourism
Praise is due for his commitment in addressing some of the environmental issues, such as conservation, human/wildlife conflict, conservancies, concessions, poaching, and climate change. While these seem to be absorbing most of the time available, and with the addition of forestry to this ministry last year, part of the tourism industry feels that the priority to this part of the ministry's portfolio was further side-lined. Given the role of tourism and its contribution to the economy under normal conditions, and the heavy impact that Covid has had on this sector, one may have hoped for more concerted efforts and dedication to this sector and the strengthening of the tourism directorate in the ministry, which has been without a director for months.
Christine ?Hoebes 3/10
The portfolio itself is not a necessity and anyone serving in it is bound to fail. On paper, she is supposed to “assist the president, both technically and administratively, to effectively exercise his roles and responsibilities as head of state and government”. We cannot trace how exactly ?Hoebes has done this for a presidency that, for the most part, seems to be out of touch with urgent matters of the nation.
Anna Nghipondoka 4/10
Education
Schools continue to beg parents for donations every day because no funding is reaching them from the state. Nghipondoka is not in charge of the government purse but she is not agitating. Learners at Oshamukweni Combined School in Okongo live in huts and shacks at school and cook with firewood in a country independent for 31 years. No child deserves this. Grade 11 graduates remain in the dark because the minister and her cabinet cohorts failed to plan on what should be done with these learners. A calamity of alarming proportions.