Ethics committee wants Pinky Kekana reprimanded for R170k she got from Edwin Sodi

Deputy minister in the presidency Pinky Kekana faces a reprimand from the National Assembly for not declaring R170,000 she received from corruption-accused businessman Edwin Sodi.

This is the recommendation of parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests, which found Kekana guilty of contravening the ethics code for failing to declare receipt of the gift.

MPs are required to declare, on an annual basis, any gift worth more than R1,500.

The ethics committee’s report, published on Wednesday, states that Kekana confirmed receipt of the money, made in two payments — R140,000 in 2015 and R30,000 in 2017.

According to the Zondo commission, Kekana received the money from Blackhead Diamond Hill Joint Venture, through Sodi, without clear evidence that she had provided any goods and/or services to justify the payment.

She told the ethics committee, which has been investigating the matter since June, that she did not intend to mislead parliament, but she was not aware she had to disclose the money. Had she been aware of the disclosure requirements, she would have disclosed it, she said.

Kekana explained that she and Sodi were close family friends and therefore she was not required to repay him. In fact, she was friends with Sodi’s wife who asked Sodi for the money on her behalf, the report explains.

At the time Sodi gave her money, it was not intended for kickbacks or bribes, she told the committee.

She also clarified that she was a MP at the time she received the money from Sodi and not an MEC in Limpopo as stated in the Zondo commission report. The gift predates her appointment as deputy minister in the presidency.

According to the report, Kekana gave reasons to the committee why she needed the money, and they were medical, but she asked the committee to treat her explanation as confidential.

The committee acceded to her request. “The committee agreed to only release information that part of her explanation was based on medical reasons,” it said.

Sanctions for this breach include:

• a reprimand;
• a fine not exceeding the value of 30 days’ salary;
• a reduction of salary or allowances for a period not exceeding 30 days;
• the suspension of certain privileges; or
• revoking the MP’s right to a seat in parliamentary debates or committees for a period not exceeding 30 days.

In the event of a breach considered minor by the committee, the member may be ordered to rectify the breach and be counselled on the requirements of the code.

The committee recommended that Kekana be reprimanded in the house.

“However, owing to the extent of the confidential information that the member [Kekana] shared with the committee, it agreed to the request of the house to impose the reprimand on the member, in her absence,” reads the report.

The ethics committee investigated Kekana after National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula referred the Zondo commission’s report to the committee to investigate possible contraventions of the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of members’ interests in May.

The commission recommended that government should seek legal opinion on how to recover the R255m of public money wasted on the failed Free State asbestos roof eradication project.

It found that the state did not get value for money from the project awarded to a joint-venture comprising Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill Trading.

Blackhead boss Sodi, who is fingered as the mastermind behind the failed project, which allegedly included bribing politicians, is among those facing charges of fraud and corruption in court.

The ethics committee report has to be adopted by the house for its recommendations to come into effect.

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