|
Land Affairs DG quits
30/10/2007 09:24 - (SA)
Jan-Jan Joubert and Gert Coetzee, Beeld
Cape Town - South Africa's Director General of Land Affairs Glen Thomas is out of a job - but it's not clear if he resigned or was fired.
Die Burger heard from various sources on Monday afternoon that the controversial Thomas had left the service of the department, but officials were under strict orders not to talk to the media about it.
The office of the Minister of Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana apparently had to deal with all media enquiries, but the Department's head of communication Stoncey Lebethe did not answer her phone or telephone.
A call to Thomas's cellphone number was answered by a woman who said the number had been relayed to her "because Glen Thomas is no longer with the department."
Sworn to secrecy
On enquiry she confirmed that he had left on Monday, but she would not elaborate on the circumstances and referred all enquiries to Xingwana's office.
Thomas was in the news during the past week after missing the tabling of his department's annual report before parliament's portfolio committee on Land Affairs.
Members of Parliament were upset, especially since they'd seen him on TV on the previous Saturday at the Rugby World Cup final in Paris.
The expectation was that Thomas would present the annual report next Wednesday to the portfolio committee, which met on Tuesday to discuss unrelated matters.
With all the unhappiness about the country's Land Reform programme, it was anticipated that Thomas would have to do some major explaining.
On the one hand the poor are unhappy about the slow progress and on the other farmers are displeased about the clumsy process. There's also concern about the large number of (emerging) farmers that fail, after being established on farms.
A well-placed source said on Monday night that if Thomas had indeed left, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
"One of the biggest problems is that originally he came from the Landless Peoples' Movement. This has landed him in an ongoing ideological confrontation with the government whose policy he's supposed to execute," Die Burger was told.
- Beeld
|
News
