Tina Joemat-Pettersson will be remembered by those who knew her best as a “radical” who had a “great sense of impatience” about transformation when she was young.
“She had an extremely radical outlook — radical and very impatient. She did very well as MEC of education. Tina had a gracious exit from the province,” said Northern Cape premier Zamani Saul. During her time as energy minister, Joemat-Pettersson was implicated in two major scandals: the sale of SA’s reserve oil stocks, a decision later reversed by the Western Cape High Court, and a controversial attempt to acquire nuclear power for SA.
Also, IOL reported last week that suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s husband had laid a complaint with the police, accusing Joemat-Pettersson of trying to extort money from him to make the section 194 committee inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office “go away”. In the mid 1980s, Joemat-Pettersson was an active member of the Azanian Students Organisation, and later taught at high schools in the Northern Cape.