The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) have called for the axing of the director-general of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Langa Zita, who was appointed in September last year by the minister of the department, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
Zita was a politically motivated appointment which had cost the department dearly, according to the respective agriculture spokespersons of the DA and FF+, MPs Laurie Bosman and Pieter Groenewald.
In interviews with the Farmer’s Weekly, Bosman and Groenewald criticised the minister for appointing officials who did not have the necessary expertise to perform their duties.
“When she appointed (Zita), she did not recruit someone who was knowledgeable about agriculture. She went out of her way rather to appoint someone from the SACP (South African Communist Party), demonstrating that she did not have a policy of appointing people with the needed expertise,” said Bosman.
Groenewald concurred, saying that the DG’s appointment had been politically motivated and not based on Zita’s ability to do the job. Both Joemat-Pettersson and Zita have a background in the SACP and until his appointment as DG, Zita was a special policy advisor to the minister.
“The minister should dismiss Zita and recruit someone who is competent to do the job,” said Groenewald. “It is imperative that the DG of any state department be knowledgeable about the sectors that fall under the auspices of that department.” – Denene Erasmus
