MPs: Tina's agricultural plan won't bear fruit

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has been lambasted by MPs because of her department's three-year strategic plan .

The plan is said to be aimed at creating 145 000 jobs in agro-processing and 800000 jobs for farmworkers.

COPE MP Nqaba Bhanga said the plan contained only rhetoric, and claimed that there had been no tangible change to the agricultural sector during Joemat-Pettersson's tenure.

"Unfortunately, I don't think the issues that President Jacob Zuma placed in the State of the Nation speech are taken very seriously by the [Department of Agriculture]," said Bhanga.

He said Joemat-Pettersson had to be held accountable for not meeting her department's performance targets.

Bhanga also criticised the department's staff disciplinary processes, saying that matters were rarely resolved within the prescribed 90 days.

"There's been an element of abuse of power which has been very clear in this department.

"We'll never find good performance where ... guns of suspension [are aimed] at executive management," said Bhanga.

Joemat-Pettersson often deflected some of the trickier questions onto the senior officials who flanked her .

ANC MP Salam Abram also criticised the department , saying that it had too many vacant posts.

He said "actors" had to be replaced with permanent staff.

In August, the department's director-general Langa Zita was suspended.

Before that, deputy director-general for trade and economic development Sue Middleton was suspended, and later reinstated.

She has launched a R1-million defamation claim against Joemat-Pettersson.

Department spokesman Selby Bokaba has been on paid suspension since August. No disciplinary charges have been made against him.

Quoting the auditor-general's report on the department, Abram said only 51% of its targets had been met though almost all its budget had been spent.

"What is the integrity of all these documents?" asked Abram of the department's proposals.

Joemat-Pettersson said her department was trying to get research vessels, which had been in the care of the navy, back at sea as soon as possible but could not give a date when pressed by DA MP Pieter van Dalen.