ANC MP Calls Fisheries Minister a Liar

During a heated debate in the fisheries portfolio committee on Wednesday, Mr Salam Abram called Minister Joemat-Pettersson a "liar". And we believe quite correctly. We have on a number of occasions exposed the Minister's deceit and dishonesty. 

The ANC has confirmed that it will be taking disciplinary steps against Mr Abram. 

The portfolio committee meeting was a shambolic affair with the Minister accusing the entire committee of incompetence and preventing her department from functioning. It was a farcical spectacle with ANC members (except for Abram) simply sitting in their seats happy to be insulted by a a grossly incompetent and ignorant Minister. (One has to wonder how these ANC MP's prop themselves up without a backbone but perhaps the sheer desire to keep their positions at the feeding trough helps).

The Minister has also accused the DA's Pieter van Dalen of using a derogatory term, referring to her as a "teef" (Afrikaans equivalent for "bitch"). Van dalen said that he had referred to the Minister as a "dief" (in Afrikaans) or "thief". 

The Minister's rants were designed more to detract from the ongoing failings of her department. The rights allocation process is a catastrophic and unmitigated disaster. It is underpinned by so many fatal legal flaws, it is now absolutely certain that it will be successfully reviewed in due course. 

In addition, it is apparent (as we have been saying for a long time now) that it will not be possible for the Second MLRA Amendment Bill to be passed by Parliament before the end of the year. So the Minister frantically tried to blame Parliament for her own failings. The foolish Minister clearly does not know that under South African law, it is she who is responsible for drafting and introducing bills into Parliament. 

Then of course the Acting DDG, Desmond Stevens, had publicly undertaken in August that ALL the patrol and research vessels would be at sea by the end of September 2013. By the end of September, only two patrol vessels were at sea but it is unclear how often they have been deployed and whether they are still at sea. The remaining 2 patrol vessels are apparently far from being ready. It has pretty much been confirmed that the premier research vessel, the Africana, will never sail again having been completely destroyed by the joint incompetence of DAFF and the Navy. Stevens had said that the Africana would be ready for the October hake survey and the November pelagic survey. 

For the umpteenth time, DAFF's promises and undertakings have been proven to be false and unmet.

So one can readily surmise that the Minister's rantings on Wednesday were aimed at detracting a distracted ANC-led portfolio committee from these ongoing failings. And of course the ANC MP's (other than Mr Abram) were happy to play along and scoff down their cakes and biscuits.