Parliament this week stepped in to halt a leadership "meltdown" in the department of agriculture, forestry & fisheries (Daff) that spilt into the diplomatic arena with infighting related to a R100m poaching restitution payment from the US government.
In an extraordinary move, the oversight committee dealing with fisheries leapt to the defence of a little-known Daff official, Nazima Parker, catapulted into the escalating government corruption scandal.
At the heart of the feud appears to be a fight over fisheries finances and control of the Marine Living Resources Fund, which has an annual budget of about R400m, from which flow payments for most fisheries service providers.
Parker, the fund's chief financial accounting officer, was axed last month by Daff director-general Mike Mlengana for authorising an allegedly irregular transfer of confiscated abalone from a government warehouse in Cape Town. But Mlengana is now himself in the spotlight for allegedly targeting Parker after she flagged irregular tenders authorised under Mlengana's watch.
Agriculture, forestry & fisheries minister Senzeni Zokwana and fisheries boss Siphokazi Ndudane are also at loggerheads with Mlengana and have submitted a potentially damning "master report" to the National Prosecuting Authority. Mlengana meanwhile claims to have evidence against them and is questioning "irregular" payments out of the fund to a private legal firm.
Mlengana has been subpoenaed to appear tomorrow before public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who last week instructed him to halt contracts with a list of service providers under investigation. These include a contract with a little-known company, Willjarro, to process a stockpile of confiscated abalone, and a much bigger, R50m, contract to South African Fence & Gate to erect security fences around two fishing harbours.
Documents seen by the Sunday Times detail how these two tenders sparked an effective war between two Daff factions:
Parker raised concerns about the fencing tender in a letter to Ndudane in April 2017.
However, rather than seek to cancel the tender, Mlengana summoned Ndudane in May last year to inquire why South African Fence & Gate had not been paid.
Another department official also raised her concerns about the fencing tender, saying: "I wish to place on record my discomfort at this purchase order for SA Fence and Gate that I am required to approve."
Mlengana also tried to intervene to resolve a tender dispute involving Willjarro, despite the legitimacy of that contract still being before court.
Portfolio committee chair Machwene Semenya on Friday confirmed she had felt compelled to rebuke Mlengana for axing Parker while the tender irregularities were still being investigated.
Semenya was less restrained when addressing a question raised by MP Pieter van Dalen at Tuesday's meeting. "People who have procured Willjarro, they are still in office. Nothing has happened to them. Miss Parker has raised the issue and she has become the issue. It is not right."
Parker declined to comment this week.
Mlengana insists Parker's dismissal relates to her having authorised a highly irregular abalone sting operation involving the removal of state abalone from a warehouse in the dead of night - and the mysterious return of "rotten" abalone a while later.
In a terse letter to the minister, dated March 6, Mlengana defended his decision to institute disciplinary action against Parker: "Ms Parker ... has been found guilty of serious offences... of theft, corruption and fraud."
Mlengana told the Sunday Times he was being targeted by corrupt elements within Daff, and said his intervention in fisheries matters was aimed at restoring fiscal order.
He also singled out the appointment of a private legal expert, Barnabas Xulu, at huge public expense. Xulu has been central to the repatriation of about R100m obtained from the US government as compensation for money looted by South African businessman Arnold Bengis between 1987 and 2000.
Xulu this week denied his appointment was irregular and told the Sunday Times Mlengana had delayed the transfer of funds from the US - which had now been completed - by not giving written assurance that they would be ring-fenced in Daff's Marine Living Resources Fund...