/ 19 July 2002

Agriculture officials send mixed messages

Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza and her Director General, Bongiwe Njobe, have contradicted each other over a controversial proposal to re-regulate agricultural marketing.

The proposal was recently reported in the Mail & Guardian.

At the same time, Derek Hanekom, a member of Parliament’s agriculture committee and the economic transformation committee of the African National Congress’s national executive, said this week that if there was a move to reinstate controls over markets “we would be extremely concerned”.

No proposal had reached the parliamentary committee, Hanekom said.

AgriSA, which represents commercial farmers, is desperately seeking clarity on the apparent policy switch.

The proposal to renew statutory controls — which would reverse a 10-year policy trend — is contained in a Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs document that calls for “an independent national statutory institution … to carry out the functions that the market would not be able or willing to do on its own”.

Njobe appears to support the idea, telling the M&G that the document would provide the basis for a policy review, with an eye to new agricultural marketing legislation to be tabled in Parliament early next year. She appears to view the move as a necessary fillip for emerging black farmers and as a way of countering food price increases.

“The state cannot afford to have such a volatile market [for agricultural products],” she said. “It is all very well to say that if food prices go up, consumers must pay, but this worsens poverty.”

But Didiza does not seem to share Njobe’s enthusiasm. Didiza’s spokesperson, Nana Zenani, told the M&G that the report on the marketing proposal was incorrect and she advised the reporter to go back to Njobe.

“The minister has said nothing. It would be like putting her against the [director general]. I can’t let the minister comment.”

When Njobe was told of this comment, she demanded to know why the M&G had gone to the minister.

Zola Pinda, assistant director general in the department, insisted that the relationship between Didiza and Njobe was “very solid”.

“The minister is responsible for policy and the director general for administration, and there is a real synergy there.”

However, political sources suggested that Didiza might have baulked at Njobe’s excessive say in policy formation.

“They were very close when Hanekom was [agriculture] minister, and worked together to get him out. Didiza has tended to follow Njobe’s lead since then. But this time Njobe may have gone too far.”

Njobe, an Africanist and feminist with a forceful personality, speaks six languages and received her master’s degree in agriculture in Bulgaria. She worked in farm management in Zambia and Tanzania when in exile. She has close family and political ties with President Thabo Mbeki.

“She is Mbeki’s preferred policy adviser at administrative level,” said a source.

Sources say she has extended her influence over parastatal bodies in agriculture that properly fall under the minister. These include the Land Bank, where she is said to have played a major role in preventing Totsie Memela, the bank’s former acting managing director and a protÃ