High flying minister on a flight of fantasy

Tina Joemat-Pettersson, the high flying agriculture minister, told an Agri SA meeting that the last three or four months had been exhausting.

Everyone wanted to know where she sleeps, and with whom, according to reports.

While members of the agriculture industry were trying to discuss pressing issues, she told them that while there were no R15000 hotel rooms in South Africa there were some overseas and, naturally, she had to take her children and their minder with her on her travels - although a man who accompanies her will be asked to pay for himself.

Getting back to agriculture, she went on to welcome the DA's Athol Trollip as the new spokesman for agriculture, and revelled in saying that he was more intelligent than his predecessor. Trollip is not the new spokesman.

When asked about ostrich exports, she claimed to be something of a pioneer when it came to wearing ostrich feathers, a practise which made her seem like a "mampara".

Dior, she claimed, has since followed the trend.

Gordhan's smart move

After the recent Mining Indaba, rumours of a mining super profit tax as an alternative to nationalisation started to circulate. But no reference to the tax was made in this week's budget.

When Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was asked about this on Wednesday, he said: "That is the ANC, this is government. Let that process conclude whenever it wants to conclude, then we will look at whether and how that becomes part of a government discourse."

Given the flack Gordhan's colleague Susan Shabangu got from the ANC after dismissing talks about nationalisation last year, this seems like a smart way to avoid angering the party, his government colleagues or mining houses, which is crucial in an ANC election year and when you want to encourage these mining houses to invest and keep on contributing to lowering the budget deficit and keeping rating agencies happy.

Rendering rich people poor

The fact that the tolling system is going ahead, despite the outrage, indicates that the user-pays principle, which government favours, is still firmly entrenched.

This is despite indications that the latest infrastructure development dream would be funded largely by state-owned entities and government.

The problem is that the user-pays principle, and numerous taxes, are rendering many rich people poor. Soon, talk of Robin Hood budgets, which have been the subject of headlines for the past few years, will be a thing of the past. There will not be enough rich people left to take from.

• kleinm@sundaytimes.co.za