DA issues ultimatum to Premier to place KZN’s Agri Department under administration or face national intervention
17 February 2020
The Democratic Alliance has written to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier, SihleZikalala, requesting that he urgently place the province’s disastrous Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) under administration, failing which we will be forced to approach the National Executive for more drastic action.
The call follows our written request to Treasury HOD, Simiso Magagula, in November 2019 requesting the same, to which we are yet to receive a response. It also comes after years of the Department being run like a "Mafia State" as financial transgressions are committed without consequence while service delivery collapses.
The situation within this vital Department has reached boiling point. This was evident during last week’s disastrous presentation of a recovery plan by the Department during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa). It is on this basis that the DA has written to the Premier. We have also submitted a series of proposals aimed at turning the embattled department around which include;
A written request to KZN Agriculture MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi (view here), for a skills audit of all employees within her Department and the implementation of lifestyle audits for members of her executive
A further written request to DARD Chairperson, NtombikayiseSibhidla-Saphetha (view here), that the province’s portfolio committee be presented with an update on all forensic reports dating back to 2010 and;
A request that a full turn-around and recovery plan be presented to the portfolio committee and that the committee meets every two weeks to receive an update on the implementation of the plan.
Agriculture is a crucial economic sector in our province and this Department cannot be allowed to run the way it has been. Accelerating job creation, fast-tracking sustainable land reform and protecting food security must be amongst government’s top priorities in KZN. The only way that this will succeed is if there is a complete overhaul within this Department which must include proper consequence management.
In the event that the Premier, MEC, and Chairperson fail to respond favourably to the DA's request we will have no other option but to approach the National Executive in terms of Section 100 (a) and (b) of the Constitution, which allows for the National Executive to assume the responsibilities of the Department under scrutiny.
Issued by Chris Pappas, 17 February 2020
