Accusations of racism are being levelled against Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk — ironically by white employees disgruntled at the appointment of blacks to senior management positions in his department.
Van Schalkwyk, the former leader of the New National Party, inherited a department where racial tensions were running high, particularly in the marine and coastal management (MCM) branch in the Western Cape.
A recent shake-up of senior staff at MCM, which is allocating long-term fishing rights worth about R70-billion, has given rise to claims that he is appointing black managers to curry favour with the African National Congress in Parliament.
”It is a farce,” said one employee. ”I believe that a lot of horse-trading is going on. The portfolio committee wanted those positions to be black. People say they are hungry and also want some of the fishcake.”
The Democratic Alliance has raised the ”upheaval” in Parliament, asking whether it is ”appropriate” that Monde Mayekiso be appointed the new head of MCM. Mayekiso is due to take over from Horst Kleinschmidt on May 1.
Mayekiso is a former chief director of MCM. He was suspended in 1999, amid allegations of financial irregularities, corruption and the unauthorised expenditure of more than R24-million.
Van Schalkwyk told the Mail & Guardian this week that a thorough investigation had cleared Mayekiso of involvement in any irregularities and no further action was taken against him.
”White fears are understandable, but there is nothing to be afraid of,” he said. ”In the top structure of MCM, there was no black representation, so we had to set that right. The balance is extremely important.”
Mayekiso has, until now, been acting as programme manager for coastal care at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), based in Stellenbosch. There is consensus that he may have weaknesses as a manager, but is a respected scientific researcher and has extensive knowledge of how the fishing industry works.
Said one authority in the industry, who asked not to be named: ”MCM is in the middle of big changes in the allocation of fishing rights, and they needed someone who could walk in right away and understand things.”
Those in favour of the appointment point out that in the past five years MCM has been run by whites and a sprinkling of coloured managers.
The only other black manager, Phakamani Buthelezi, left a year ago amid claims that he was being victimised and seriously undermined by other senior employees of MCM. He moved on to become head of the South African Heritage Resources Agency.
Kleinschmidt, who has transformed the allocations of fishing rights with Germanic efficiency, will stay on at MCM in a contractual capacity to head up the long-term fishing rights unit.
Insiders say the new minister is instituting transformation measures that his predecessors, Mohammed Valli Moosa and former director general Chippy Olver, either resisted or never got around to implementing.
But while it is ironic that a minister with a connection to South Africa’s apartheid past is now pushing a transformation agenda, it is logical.
”Because of his history in the anti-apartheid movement, Moosa could get away with not emphasising transformation. Van Schalkwyk can’t do the same,” said one parliamentary observer.
Van Schalkwyk agreed that he is making ”a conscious effort to groom black scientists and to make environmental conservation an area where we involve everyone. The reality is that to a large extent this is still an area where there is not enough black participation.”
Since becoming minister a year ago, he has made several enlightened appointments in the department and its associated statutory bodies. He has also drawn in a wide range of interest groups, including organised labour, through the establishment of advisory panels to deal with contentious issues in conservation and tourism.
Khungeka Njobe, director of Environmentek at the CSIR and a former director in the department, has been appointed chairperson of the National Environmental Advisory Forum. The forum will act as an intermediary between civil society and the government, and though there was provision for it in the National Environmental Management Act during the pre-Van Schalkwyk era, it was not set up until February this year.
Other interesting and competent women in his menagerie include Pam Yako, acting Director General since Olver left the department in January; former agriculture director general Bongiwe Njobe, chairperson of the South African National Biodiversity Unit; Sindisa Nhlumayo, ministerial adviser on tourism; former Gauteng environment official Joanne Yawitch, head of the environmental quality and protection branch; former SA Tourism boss Cheryl Carolus, chairperson of South African National Parks; and Phindile Makwakwa, director of communications.
In his budget vote speech in Parliament this week, subtitled ”Driving and dealing with change”, Van Schalkwyk announced the launch of a new biosafety directorate in the department to deal with genetically modified organisms and an advisory panel on regulating the hunting industry, which Olver will chair.
The tourism black economic empowerment scorecard process headed by Tim Modise, launched last year and due to be finalised in May, is another sign of the changing times, Van Schalkwyk told Parliament.