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Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has taken a month’s stress leave. In her shaken condition, she has somehow also seen fit to fire or suspend a plethora of staff. Selby Bokaba, one of her departmental spokespersons, is the most recent casualty. He was suspended after he reportedly complied with a directive from the Public Protector to give information to her office. The Minister herself is currently the subject of three separate and concurrent investigations by the Public Protector.

The Minister also recently fired her private secretary and the status of her ‘special adviser’ Rams Mabote is unknown, though apparently he resigned because the Minister suddenly refused to speak to him. The Minister’s Director General (DG), Langa Zita, may be receiving a golden handshake following his suspension for unsubstantiated ‘administrative reasons <https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_-slGu8-FTxR3VmeXBwWFZib2M> ’. Prior to this, acting Deputy-Director General (DDG) of Fisheries, Sue Middleton, was also suspended for no apparent reason. The Minister then claimed that Middleton had a disciplinary hearing on charges of financial misconduct. But Middleton had been granted no such hearing. She is now back at work but not in her original position.

At present, then, the Department is without a DG, a number of DDGs and a spokesperson. Six out of nine DDG positions are acting. The DAFF website suspiciously no longer reflects an organogram. There are too many actors and too few officials with stable contracts.

I have submitted parliamentary questions to ascertain the current vacancy level at senior management level in the department. We will also add this matter to the list of complaints we have submitted to the Public Protector about the Minister’s poor management of her department.

If the suspended officials are guilty of incompetence or corruption, evidence must be submitted and due process must take its course. At this stage the suspensions seem to be more a function of paranoia than reason.

For three years, the Minister has systematically destroyed her department while perpetually shifting the blame for its failures. Clearly, she is unfit to hold public office. Her current stress leave should transition into an honourable resignation.