Gaye Davis
PETER MOKABA’S elevation to deputy minister has brought a sigh of relief by members of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Environment Affairs and Tourism.
They hope that as deputy minister he will make the portfolio more of a priority than he did when he was chair of the committee. Intended to function as a bridge between voters and the ministry, the committee had relatively few meetings and members complained it was difficult to get work done because Mokaba was rarely around to provide the leadership required.
Matters first came to a head soon after Mokaba’s National Tourism Forum collapsed in a welter of corruption scandals early last year and he was carpeted by ANC chief whip Reverend Arnold Stofile.
“Things improved a bit but not much,” a member said, adding that Mokaba was an extremely good chair “when he was there”.
More recently, Mokaba was taken to task by ANC whip Naledi Pandor for failing to consult a committee member dealing with the fishing quotas controversy before making comments on television.
While Mokaba was seen to be extremely able, with political savvy and an ability to get on top of issues quickly, members from all parties felt he had not made his chairmanship a priority over a plethora of other interests, including the chain of hairdressing salons he owns, a master’s degree he was reading for and a presidential lead project he was in charge of.
Mokaba’s appointment to replace sacked deputy minister Bantu Holomisa was being seen as a shrewd move in political circles this week, as it made it difficult for the action against Holomisa to be read as an attack on leading ANC personalities described as populists — including Winnie Madikizela- Mandela, Tony Yengeni and Mokaba himself.