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The Minister of Agriculture, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, must provide immediate clarity over the status of her Director-General, Langa Zita.

A reply  to a DA parliamentary question would only say that he was suspended for ‘administrative reasons’. We believe the public have the right to know why he was suspended and what steps are being taken to resolve whatever the issue is that led to his suspension.

Sources inside the department allege that Zita is willing to leave but wants to be paid out for the remainder of his contract. This golden handshake would amount to somewhere in the region of R10 million.

I will ask follow-up questions about the circumstances surrounding Zita’s suspension and add it to the list of complaints the DA has submitted to the Public Protector about the Minister’s demonstrative incompetence. The Minister is currently under three separate and concurrent investigations by the Public Protector.

Minister Joemat-Pettersson has a history for getting rid of officials for no apparent reason. In May, the Minister suspended the Deputy Director-General of Fisheries, Sue Middleton, without reason. When Middleton returned to work, the Minister claimed that she had been given a disciplinary hearing and placed on final warning for ‘financial misconduct’. But Middleton had never been to any such hearing.

Joemat-Pettersson has appointed an acting Director-General, Sipho Ntombela, in Zita’s place. The high number of staff she has appointed to acting positions in her department is cause for concern, and just adds to the theatrics of institutional dysfunction.

The Minister’s inability to get along with her staff goes some way toward explaining the dysfunction. She suddenly refused to speak to her spin-doctor and advisor, Mr Rams Mabote, who resigned as a result. We do not yet know whether Mabote has received a golden handshake but will be asking the necessary questions.

For three years, the Minister has systematically destroyed her department, perpetually shifting the blame for its failures to advance the industries it has a mandate to support. Clearly, she is unfit to hold public office. The DA will continue to push for her resignation.