The Volksblad newspaper alleged that this was reflected in the fact that Mulder’s resistance to the minister’s director general choice was ignored, and that Western Cape agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg was asked to attend an international conference in Scotland instead of Mulder.However, agriculture minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told Farmer’s Weekly it was “mischievous” to assume that Mulder had been marginalised.
“It was an error. I humbly apologised to the deputy minister and assured him it won’t happen again,” she said.“I take full responsibility. The document went to print before I saw it. If I had seen it, I would have rectified it.
“There was also an insinuation that because I sent an MEC on a trip I was undermining the deputy minister, but I send all MECs on trips, because I believe in the empowerment of all my leaders.” She said it was unfortunate that some chose to read marginalisation into it.
