Angry MPs take feud to the top

Motlanthe asked to act against Joemat-Pettersson

TINA Joemat-Pettersson’s spat with members of parliament is to be taken to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

MPs on the portfolio committee for agriculture have written to Motlanthe about their unhappiness over Joemat-Pettersson’s attitude towards them.

ANC insiders say the close relationship between the agriculture and fisheries minister and President Jacob Zuma, coupled with her considerable wealth, have allowed her to emerge unscathed from her many blunders.

Joemat-Pettersson was embroiled in a war of words with MPs last month when she accused them of inefficiency and failing to process important bills from her department.

Portfolio committee chairman and ANC MP Lulu Johnson said the committee lost patience with the minister after she made “unacceptable statements”. She said they were perturbed by some of the threats that the minister, who is a member of the ANC’s national executive and working committees, had made against them.

Joemat-Pettersson warned MPs on the committee that she would campaign for their removal after next year’s election, saying she wanted a more “competent committee”.

“We are in the process of writing to her. It’s about expressing displeasure on the part of the committee,” said Johnson. “Some of the statements she made were basically things that were not acceptable. She has said things like there’s going to be a better portfolio committee next year.”

Democratic Alliance MP Pieter van Dalen, who is also a member of the portfolio committee, filed the complaint with Motlanthe — the leader of government business — asking him to call the minister to order.

“We have an oversight role and she reprimanded us and she had no right to do that. She has to respect parliament and she has no respect for parliament,” said Van Dalen.

Joemat-Pettersson, through her spokesman Palesa Mokomele, refused to comment on the allegations levelled against her by the MPs.

But she told the Sunday Times that she had been “vindicated” this week by the National Assembly passing the Marine Living Resources Amendment Bill.

An ANC insider who is close to Joemat-Pettersson said it was unlikely that any action would be taken against her, because she had become increasingly

Some of the statements she made were basically not acceptable

powerful and untouchable thanks to her close relationship with Zuma.

“Zuma’s high regard for farming and agriculture has elevated Tina at cabinet level,” said the insider.

Joemat-Pettersson, who inherited a multimillion-rand estate from her late husband, is also a key benefactor of the ANC in the Northern Cape, her home province.

The Sunday Times understands that she has often extended a financial lifeline to the ANC’s Kimberley headquarters. “She has rescued many comrades in that province, some who were on the brink of suicide,” said the insider. “She’s rescued the movement in the province, at times paying the bills.”