---
title: "DA ministers are looking good — but is this just skilful PR and ‘new manager bounce’?"
description: "The DA Cabinet ministers in the Government of National Unity have been making their ANC counterparts look bad, but it’s not all good or bad when new managers bring a bounce in performance, or when propaganda windfalls make good news."
type: "OpinionNewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Opinionistas"
author: "Ismail Lagardien"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/ismaillagardien/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-09-10-da-ministers-are-looking-good-but-is-this-just-skilful-pr-and-new-manager-bounce/"
published: "2024-09-10T22:00:50"
updated: "2024-09-10T22:00:51"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1281
---

# DA ministers are looking good — but is this just skilful PR and ‘new manager bounce’?

> The DA Cabinet ministers in the Government of National Unity have been making their ANC counterparts look bad, but it’s not all good or bad when new managers bring a bounce in performance, or when propaganda windfalls make good news.

By Ismail Lagardien · Published 11 September 2024, 00:00 SAST · Updated 11 September 2024, 00:00 SAST

## Content

The Government of National Unity has been a boon for the DA, and the liberals have made the most of it. I would, too. The DA seem to be winning hearts and minds. It’s complicated, though.

Before I ramble on, I have to insert an almost obligatory note of caution. We live in a society where inserting anything in the DA’s “win” column is labelled an endorsement of four centuries of European colonialism and settler colonialism, of racism, inequality, poverty, of apartheid, and support for “white monopoly capital” and the “Stellenbosch mafia”.

Likewise, anything entered in the “win” column of the ANC is either a sign of having “sold out”, of being complicit or an “enabler”, and in the case of a tick in the EFF’s register, as “hating white people”.

Then there is the ersatz revolutionary waiting-for-perfection deflection, a twisting of a genuine emancipatory impulse that would have us believe that one person cannot have a house until everyone has one. It’s all rather exhausting.

Contrived anger, *skaam kwaad*, notions of eternal innocence and *baasskap* poison the wells of South African society.

DA ministers are making positive contributions in their portfolios, notably in Home Affairs. How does one explain it all? There are several likely explanations.

There is the[“new manager bounce](https://www.goal.com/en-za/news/what-is-new-manager-bounce-in-football/blt73eb2750d6754abc)”; a staleness and apathy among Cabinet colleagues, which makes any new ministers look good without trying; the possibility that the DA Cabinet ministers are, actually, good at their new jobs; and then there are the very apparent propaganda gains. All of these can be true.

#### **The ‘new manager bounce’ and further analogies from football**

In footballing parlance, “new manager bounce” occurs after an extended period of dire performance. This happens when a new manager takes charge of a team, and there is an immediate “bounce” in performance outcomes. The bounce is attributed to a probable increase in enthusiasm and motivation, improved morale, new tactics and perspectives, and fear among players of losing their income.

Everyone wants to impress the new manager so they bring their best game, as it were. The latter two would not readily apply to public servants who have jobs for life, and who may have no incentive to perform above and beyond their most basic and immediate responsibilities.

An economist or a “communications expert” may, for example, refuse to empty the basket of a paper-shredding machine because it’s not in their job description. (Yes).

In the South African National Defence Force a woman of Indian descent, who happens to have a senior rank, will get resistance from a lower-ranked person who would simply refuse to take instructions from a non-African. (Seriously, yes).

And anyway, the South African National Defence Union is more important, and has a greater say in the military than do ranking officers. (Yes).

Closely related to this, and I have no actual evidence — whatever evidence there is will be disputed or summarily rejected – but the power of public servants through unions, or fealty to the liberation movement, is a bit like the “player power” that has have brought down football managers – the “[losing the dressing room](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lose-the-dressing-room)” phenomenon.

Enough with the football analogies. There are one or more points in there somewhere.

#### **Another sporting analogy and the power of propaganda**

Baseball is part of the social and historical background of countries from the[Western Hemisphere](https://complit.yale.edu/publications/pride-havana-history-cuban-baseball) to the[East](https://kiplingandclark.com/latest-from-k-c/japans-unique-baseball-culture/) — it is, nonetheless, one of my least favourite sporting spectacles, beaten only by golf, in last place. With baseball, I cannot see beyond the gluttony (covered in Velveeta and ranch dressing), the triumphalism, crass displays of patriotism and national pride, and people dressed badly across the US.

It all seems so terribly unimaginative and without freedom and flair. Sportspeople Lionel Messi, Diego Maradonna, Sadio Mane, Roberto Baggio (or Daniel Carter) would have been forced to run in straight lines, and compose themselves “just right” to move the ball… it’s just so f\*\*\*\*\*\*g[boring](https://www.royalsreview.com/2018/8/13/17675610/have-analytics-led-to-a-more-boring-game-of-baseball). Although I have twice seen a “triple” and a spectacular “catch” by a player whose name I couldn’t be arsed to remember.

Which brings me to John Steenhuisen and his agriculture portfolio.

Shortly after he became minister of agriculture, Steenhuisen boasted about sealing[a trade deal on avocados](https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/new-ministers-unveil-plans-to-boost-agriculture-land-reform/). A good thing, right? Sure, except the minister declared his victory about two weeks into July — barely two weeks after he had been sworn in. He made himself look good.

What he failed to acknowledge, and what was absent from the vacuous encomia that followed, was that trade deals take weeks and months to conclude and the avocado deal might well have started long before he carried himself into the Cabinet.

Steenhuisen, like so many of his people-who-don’t-see-race, was born on third base and thought he hit a home run! They also love spinning things for which they would heavily criticise and demean others.

Tony Leon is the cynosure of this. He just loves to tell everyone that he once was a South African ambassador. Yet, for many years every black person who became an ambassador apparently got their post as reward for party loyalty, or merely because they were black. Steenhuisen and Leon, Helen Zille and people like Douglas Gibson are proof that innocence is overrated. We should probably include Jacob Zuma ([I have done nothing wrong](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43060759)) and Julius Malema ([I have done nothing wrong](https://scrolla.africa/ive-done-nothing-wrong-malema/)).

One can’t help feeling proud about not being innocent…

#### **They really are good at their jobs**

Maybe the new DA ministers are simply good at their jobs. The DA have, in general, and in pockets around the country registered good results – much better in places than the grand old liberation party, ActionSA, Al Jama-ah, or the EFF.

[See the city of Johannesburg](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-11-joburg-is-too-big-to-fail-its-time-to-give-it-back-to-its-people/). It’s a mess, and sometimes, just sometimes, the places where the ANC in particular govern, look like “one large and magnificent firework display”, as the essayist and professor of English,[Madison Smartt Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Smartt_Bell), wrote in another context.

Anyway, the DA are showing up their ANC counterparts in the Cabinet.[They’re making us look bad, ANC leaders have complained](https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/political-parties/da-is-making-us-look-bad-anc-top-brass-says-gnu-partners-successes-are-showing-them-up-20240731). They’re right. They have had three decades and achieved a lot in the first decade (of their new manager bounce), but rapidly lost their moral compass while stacking pecuniary gain behind thickets of liberation rhetoric.

It’s unfortunate that we evaluate the DA because they cannot possibly be as bad as the ANC, or when compared with past performance (by the ANC). The fact is that we have been shown that DA ministers like Leon Schreiber have[moved swiftly](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-04-evaluating-achievements-problems-since-gnu-formation-part-2/) on issues like immigration, with reducing backlogs and addressing the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit waiver applications.

A commendable start, but as[Business Day reminded us](https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2024-07-15-home-affairs-reduces-permit-application-backlog-by-30-since-april/), much of the work that went into clearing the backlogs may have started before Schreiber’s arrival. As Linda Ensor, *Business Day’s* Parliamentary Correspondent[wrote on 15 July](https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2024-07-15-home-affairs-reduces-permit-application-backlog-by-30-since-april/) when Schreiber had been in his new post for less than a fortnight: *“*A dedicated team was set up in April to reduce the backlog, resulting in significant progress, with the backlog of 306,042 applications having been reduced by 92,886 — a reduction of 30%*.”*

The nominally Teutonic twins – Schreiber and Steenhuisen – seem to have benefitted from propaganda windfalls. One can only hope that, like windfall gains, Schreiber and Steenhuisen’s achievements are not transitory.

That great source of wisdom, The Onion, captured windfall gains perfectly with the headline: “[Powerball winners already divorced, bankrupt](https://theonion.com/powerball-winners-already-divorced-bankrupt-1819574265/)”.

Still, they look better, and their achievements, relative as they may be, have brought fresh impetus and confidence in the GNU. **DM**

[Media on Daily Maverick: "100 days GNU"](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-09-10-da-ministers-are-looking-good-but-is-this-just-skilful-pr-and-new-manager-bounce/)