Melanie Gosling
Environment Writer
DA MP Pieter van Dalen has said the public protector’s report that found Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson guilty of misconduct and wasteful expenditure has still not been tabled in Parliament.
The report – “Docked Vessels” – the result of the investigation into awarding of an R800 million a year tender to Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium, was released on December 5.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said this week that in terms of the Executive Members Ethic Act, President Jacob Zuma must submit a copy of a public protector’s report on any cabinet minister to the National Assembly not later than 14 days after having received it.
Van Dalen said that to date there was no evidence of the report having been submitted to the National Assembly for its consideration.
He attached an e-mail from the Office of the Clerk of Papers in Parliament, which stated that staff could find no record that they had received the “Docked Vessels” report for tabling in Parliament.
Van Dalen said he would write to Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu, “demanding reason as to why the Office of the Presidency failed to table the damning ‘Docked Vessels’ report”.
He said Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, was reported as saying in January that the matter was receiving attention from the Presidency, and that Zuma would inform the public once he had come to a decision.
Van Dalen said Zuma had been “derelict in his duty”. The report had found Joemat-Pettersson guilty of misconduct because she had tried to interfere with both the public protector and the National Prosecuting Authority’s investigation into her office.
Maharaj said late yesterday that he had sent a query to Parliament about the tabling of the “Docked Vessels” report, and was waiting for a reply.
l Joemat-Pettersson has taken legal action against the public protector, claiming that some of the report’s findings were not correct.
Madonsela has replied that she stands by her report and was “baffled” by the minister’s court action.