Contract of land affairs director general terminated

The Ministry of Land Affairs would not give reasons for the termination of the contract of Director General (DG) Glen Thomas until the minister returned from a trip to Namibia, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Godfrey Mdhluli said: “The minister and the DG made an agreement that the DG’s contract be terminated [on Monday].”

Chief land claims commissioner and acting Director General Thozi Gwanya would take his place for now.

Asked for reasons, Mdhlul said: “That is a question I’m not going to answer until the minister comes back from Namibia.”

Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana is expected to return from Namibia on Wednesday and might call a press conference to provide reasons, said Mdhluli.

The Star reported that this came after MPs called for strong action to be taken against Thomas for not attending a parliamentary committee meeting at which he was supposed to account for the qualified audit report his department had received from the Auditor General.

He had reportedly not yet returned from the Rugby World Cup in France.

Chairperson of the National Assembly’s agriculture and land affairs committee Rueben Mohlaloga said Thomas’s situation was not related to the World Cup, but “had everything to do with his non-appearance”, the report said.

Last week Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula came under fire for not attending a scheduled home affairs committee meeting.

She said she had not been able to attend because she had been deployed to another engagement.—Sapa