A factional war lays bare a culture of corruption
FULL ARTICLE AT
https://www.groundup.org.za/article/fisheries-department-rots-top/
South Africa’s fisheries authority is in a state of crisis, paralysed by a factional war between its two most senior officials and hollowed out by a culture of corruption.
This has left the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) unable to perform many of its most basic tasks, including allocating fishing rights and enforcing regulations. An exodus of skilled staff, including top scientists, has aggravated the problem.
As a consequence, the fisheries sector, a critical pillar of the Western Cape’s economy, is plagued by deep disfunction, a state of affairs that disproportionately affects poor people. Government programs intended to uplift fishing communities — now hotbeds for abalone and crayfish poaching — have repeatedly stalled.
The rot at the department, entrenched for many years, has been laid bare by a power struggle between director-general Mike Mlengana and his deputy, Siphokazi Ndudane. Even the minister for the department, Senzeni Zokwana, has become embroiled in the dispute, siding with Ndudane.
Over the last 18 months, their rift has played out in a bewildering sequence of suspensions, court cases and accusations of criminality. Reporters, law firms, unions and opposition politicians have been drawn into the fray, sometimes unwittingly being used for factional agendas.
The department has spent tens of millions of rands on legal fees for both officials, in some cases hiring opposing sets of counsel. In the last two years, the department has also commissioned at least three forensic reports into corruption, although even these have been tainted by allegations of improper influence.
From both sides, there are claims that the department has been “captured†by private interests, ranging from tenderpreneurs to abalone poaching syndicates. In this series we review the evidence, based on court records, internal documents and more than a dozen interviews.
FULL ARTICLE AT
https://www.groundup.org.za/article/fisheries-department-rots-top/
South Africa’s fisheries authority is in a state of crisis, paralysed by a factional war between its two most senior officials and hollowed out by a culture of corruption.
This has left the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) unable to perform many of its most basic tasks, including allocating fishing rights and enforcing regulations. An exodus of skilled staff, including top scientists, has aggravated the problem.
As a consequence, the fisheries sector, a critical pillar of the Western Cape’s economy, is plagued by deep disfunction, a state of affairs that disproportionately affects poor people. Government programs intended to uplift fishing communities — now hotbeds for abalone and crayfish poaching — have repeatedly stalled.
The rot at the department, entrenched for many years, has been laid bare by a power struggle between director-general Mike Mlengana and his deputy, Siphokazi Ndudane. Even the minister for the department, Senzeni Zokwana, has become embroiled in the dispute, siding with Ndudane.
Over the last 18 months, their rift has played out in a bewildering sequence of suspensions, court cases and accusations of criminality. Reporters, law firms, unions and opposition politicians have been drawn into the fray, sometimes unwittingly being used for factional agendas.
The department has spent tens of millions of rands on legal fees for both officials, in some cases hiring opposing sets of counsel. In the last two years, the department has also commissioned at least three forensic reports into corruption, although even these have been tainted by allegations of improper influence.
From both sides, there are claims that the department has been “captured†by private interests, ranging from tenderpreneurs to abalone poaching syndicates. In this series we review the evidence, based on court records, internal documents and more than a dozen interviews.
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