Parliament investigates rogue MPs fingered in Zondo report

Parliament has started to process the state capture inquiry report after it instructed its ethics and members interests committee to look into serving MPs implicated in the report.

This comes after a long battle between the DA and ANC on when parliament should act on the report. The final instalment is yet to be released by inquiry chair and chief justice Raymond Zondo. 

The ANC was pushing for parliament to wait for the complete report to be handed to the house by President Cyril Ramaphosa before lifting a finger.

However, the official opposition party pushed back, arguing parliament was a separate arm of state which was not obliged to take instructions from the executive, and this stance was supported by the EFF. 

Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said parliament was in the process of establishing systems, consistent with its constitutional function, to process and oversee implementation of the report.

“Thus far, the president has officially submitted to parliament part 3 of the commission’s report, which relates to the conduct of current and former members. Part 3 identifies several past and present MPs who are implicated in conduct that may constitute illegal, unlawful or unethical behaviour. 

“As the aspects of the report have a direct bearing on parliamentary business, the institution has swiftly initiated a processes to implement its recommendations.

“Accordingly, the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of members’ interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members,” said Mothapo. 

He said the process will only apply to current members who were serving in parliament when alleged transgressions took place.

This may mean mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe and deputy minister for intelligence Zizi Kodwa will not be affected by the process.

However, one of the most prominent MPs, Cedric Frolick, who is also the chair of chairs, could be in hot water over the benefits he allegedly received from Bosasa.

Mothapo said president Ramaphosa has committed to submit the rest of the report along with the implementation plan on or before August 31 2022.

“While the official submission of all outstanding reports is awaited, parliament has already started working on systems based on publicly available copies of the reports. Parliament’s research department is processing the reports, summarising them into, among others, action plans to improve parliament’s execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports. 

“Parliament’s legal services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion proposing a process parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted,” said Mothapo. 

He said parliament has an obligation to implement corrective measures from the commission’s reports with regards to areas where parliament has a role to play. 

“Similarly, parliament has a responsibility to oversee the executive’s and state agencies’ actions in their process of carrying out the implementation of commission reports. The rules committee will, at an opportune time, consider how best to process the reports and implementation plan in their entirety,” he said. 

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.