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It has come to the attention of the DA that the Director General (DG) of the Department of Agriculture, Langa Zita, will be receiving a golden handshake following his suspension from his position for ‘administrative reasons’.

This handshake will allegedly comprise nine months’ full salary and 30% of each month’s salary until the end of his contract – which was set to expire in 2014. Our calculations indicate that the final amount could be as high as R2.5m, an extraordinary amount of public money to hand out to an undeserving candidate.

The Minister of Agriculture, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, must provide immediate clarity over the status of her DG.

If he is guilty of incompetence or corruption, evidence must be submitted and due process must take its course. The public has the right to know why he has been suspended and what steps are being taken to resolve whatever issue led to his suspension. At this stage, given past precedent of random suspensions, the suspension appears entirely personal.

I will ask follow-up questions about the circumstances surrounding Zita’s suspension and the value of his golden handshake. We will also add this matter to the list of complaints we have submitted to the Public Protector about the Minister’s incompetence. The Minister is currently the subject of three separate and concurrent investigations by the Public Protector.

For three years, the Minister has systematically destroyed her department, perpetually shifting the blame for the department’s 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.