Joemat-Pettersson must be sanctioned for PetroSA chairman appointment

30 November 2014

At the first Parliamentary sitting of 2015 I will reintroduce the DA Motion of censure against Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. I will call for her to be referred to Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests for investigation and sanction.

The Minister must be referred to the Ethics Committee for interfering in the appointment process of the chairperson of the board of PetroSA and personally recommending that Mr. Tshepo Kgadima be appointed; an appointment that has since been rescinded.

While this rescission is a welcome confirmation of the DA's position that Kgadima was not a fit and proper person to be appointed as chairperson of the PetroSA Board, it is an indictment on Minister Joemat-Pettersson's failure to undertake due diligence in recommending Kgadima.

The Minister must be held accountable for this error of judgment, and illegitimate meddling.

Kgadima has been accused of swindling more than 250 investors who allegedly put money into his company, LonthoCoal, between 2010 and 2012 for projects that did not exist.

The DA believes that Minister Joemat-Pettersson may have lied to Parliament when she said, "The appointment of the chairman was the responsibility of the board of PetroSA's holding company, the Central Energy Fund (CEF)" considering that the Minister had personally written to CEF chairwoman, Mthembi Mahanyele recommending that Kgadima be appointed to the board, exerting undue pressure in doing so.

Now that Kgadima's appointment has been rescinded, Minister Joemat-Petterson must face sanction.

The DA will reintroduce our Motion to refer Mininster Joemat-Pettersson to the Ethics Committee to ensure that the minister faces a hearing for this unfortunate state of affairs.

Statement issued by Lance Greyling MP, DA Shadow Minister of Energy, November 30 2014

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