Jooste resigns from Cabinet

DEPUTY Tourism and Environment Minister Leon Jooste has resigned from his post and also from the National Assembly, citing family reasons related to the death of his father in September last year.

His term of office in the Ministry ends on January 19.
‘My late father, who lived in Cape Town, South Africa, left a large and diverse company with international relations and we as a family had to make practical decisions, which resulted in me taking over the company,’ Jooste told The Namibian yesterday.
‘It would have been very difficult to juggle both my ministerial duties and running the company.’
Jooste added that it was originally planned that he would not stand for the next elections later this year and from 2010 take over the family business.
‘Unfortunately my father died a few months ago.’
Jooste said he had already discussed the matter with President Hifikepunye Pohamba early in November.
‘He was very understanding of my situation and the decision I had to take. The President however requested that an announcement should be made only after the festive season.’
However, a local paper pre-empted this and splashed the story on its front page yesterday, alleging it had to do with the last-minute cancellation of an auction for hunting concessions, which was set for December 19 2008.
The auction was organised by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and it was alleged it lacked a black empowerment component.
But Jooste dismissed this as unfounded and untrue. ‘That was not the reason for my resignation and, as I said, I had discussed my decision already with the Head of State in early November last year.’
Jooste had already relocated to Cape Town with his family at the end of last year. He will return to the Ministry next Monday to say goodbye, which ‘will be emotional’, he added.
‘I love this portfolio and I enjoyed working for the MET, despite some frustrations, but these come with any job. I will however change some of our company focus around towards tourism in Namibia and that means that I will be in the sector again as a businessman. I will frequently travel to Namibia and I presume that I will spend about six months of the year here.’
Jooste was appointed as Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Local and Regional Government by former President Sam Nujoma in 2004 and in 2005 he was moved to the MET.
Gitta Paetzold, Chief Executive Officer of the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN), said it was ‘very sad’ to see Jooste leave the Ministry.
‘He was very approachable, always fair, and the tourism industry co-operated well with him. We however understand his reasons and he will not be entirely lost to the industry,’ Paetzold told The Namibian.
The next in line on the Swapo list for the National Assembly is Hadino Hishongwa, Namibia’s High Commissioner to Botswana, followed by Viscaya Amutenya, an official in the Office of the President, and Ponhele ya France, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors at the NBC.
National elections are due in 10 months and it is possible that until then Swapo will not send new Member of Parliament to the National Assembly. It is also not clear if a new Deputy Minister will be appointed before the elections.