Government effectiveness during each president's tenure

Every president since 1991, ranked by how the government effectiveness changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

#	President	In office	Total	Per year	Chart
1	Thabo Mbeki	14 Jun 1999 – 25 Sep 2008	+2.8 points 1998 → 2008	+0.3 points/yr
2	Jacob Zuma	9 May 2009 – 15 Feb 2018	−1.5 points 2008 → 2017	−0.2 points/yr
3	Cyril Ramaphosa	15 Feb 2018 – now	−7.5 points 2017 → 2025	−0.9 points/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in points; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. points, 0 to 100, higher is better · World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (GOV_WGI_GE.SC): perceptions of the quality of public services, the civil service and of policy-making, a score from 0 to 100 with its 90 % interval · South Africa data · as of Oct 2026.