Setting the record straight on hotel accommodation

27 Oct 2011

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, is considering instituting disciplinary proceedings against senior officials in the department for misleading her, parliament and the nation over a reply to a parliamentary question about her hotel accommodation since her appointment in 2009.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) provided incorrect information to parliament last month about Minister Joemat-Pettersson sleeping in hotels in Cape Town and Pretoria when replying to a question about the Minister's official accommodation and hotel stays. The reply was tabled in parliament on Monday, 24 October 2011.

The entries provided by Daff were about meetings that Joemat-Pettersson held in the hotels with stakeholders, where refreshments and food were served, over the past two-and-a-half years. She did not sleep in any of those hotels.

"The senior officials in the department must take full responsibility for the wrong information provided to my office to answer the parliamentary questions on this matter. Disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who gave me incorrect information. As a result of this bungle, I have now been cast as an extravagant Minister who willy-nilly splurges on luxury using taxpayers' money, and has scant regard for the millions of South Africans who live in abject poverty", Joemat-Pettersson said.

It is important to provide a brief background about the accommodation of the Minister that has aroused unnecessary controversy in some quarters this week.

Minister Joemat-Pettersson was appointed on 29 May 2009, and relocated from Kimberley, Northern Cape, to hotels in Pretoria and Cape Town because the Department of Public Works (DPW), whose responsibility it is to provide accommodation to Ministers, did not have houses for her. Since there was no proper official accommodation for her, she had to leave her children in Kimberley with family members as she is a single mother.

Cape Town

The Minister was allocated an official house at Groote Schuur Estate by DPW in July 2009 and immediately assumed occupancy of that house, despite the house having chronic defects which included broken toilets, bathrooms and a roof that threatened to collapse. She could not relocate her children because the house was dilapidated, but she nevertheless stayed in that house.

During that period DPW promised to renovate the house, but by January 2010 the house had still not been renovated. She relocated her children since the separation between mother and children had become intolerable and unsustainable.

After a freak accident in the kitchen floor, the Minister was instructed by DPW to move out of the house and relocate to a hotel because the house had become unsafe for human habitation. She refused to move to a hotel.

Joemat-Pettersson lived in that dilapidated house until September 2010.

She moved into a rented house in September 2010, and DPW refused to help her with furniture and other necessary household goods. She was even denied domestic help which she is entitled to as a Minister. She still lives in the rented house.

Ironically, a year later, at the beginning of October 2011, DPW officials went to view the house, by which time she had already fixed a lot of defects out of her own pocket.

"I paid for electricity, water, garden and pool services for the whole year out of my own pocket and had to claim the expenses I incurred from Daff, certain claims of which they have refused to pay," Joemat-Pettersson added.

"The dilapidated house of the Estate where I previously lived has still not been renovated, despite numerous promises from DPW to do so."

If the Minister had followed the instruction of the DPW to relocate to a hotel while they were mulling over renovating the house, she would have spent an extra full year in a hotel with her children. Instead, she chose to rent a house which until the beginning of October she paid for, and still battles to this day to reclaim some of her expenses.

The Minister stayed only once in a hotel after being allocated official housing when she hosted the Vulnerable Workers' Summit in Somerset West. She stayed overnight in a hotel in Stellenbosch.

Pretoria

The Minister initially stayed in a hotel before moving to guest houses when it became apparent that DPW was in no rush to provide her with a house in Pretoria. Officials from Daff had to scour the suburbs of Pretoria looking for proper accommodation for her because of constant procrastination by DPW.

Ultimately, officials from Daff identified a property for her - which is a function of DPW - and Minister assumed occupancy of that house in August 2010, to date.

"Ever since I was allocated official accommodation in Pretoria I have never stayed in a hotel. The Democratic Alliance is well within its rights to approach the Public Protector to lodge a complaint about my accommodation. I will fully cooperate with the probe and I am confident that I will be exonerated," Joemat-Pettersson added.

Statement issued by Selby Bokaba, Media Liaison Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, October 27 2011

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