Africa-Press – South-Africa. Deputy President Paul Mashatile came out guns blazing, telling MPs they are “out of order” and asking him “funny” questions about the ownership of his Waterfall and Constantia residences.
An irritated Mashatile lashed out at an EFF MP, accusing him of taking information from the media and using it to come up with his questions in parliament.
“When MPs are guided by the media you’re going to falter because you read funny things and it becomes your programme and you come and ask me questions based on articles of News24. It’s out of order.
“You read News24 and come and ask me questions. It is a journalist who wrote a story that he’s now following up that I wrote in my declaration I own a house that I don’t own. How foolish can I be?”
Mashatile was replying to questions in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday.
One of the questions related to his declaration of interests in parliament where it was reported he erroneously said he owned the controversial properties he lives in in Cape Town and Pretoria.
Mashatile said the houses were owned by his son-in-law last year.
“I didn’t say it for the first time. I said it last year, I still live where I was living last year. So my declaration could not have changed. Somebody tried to change it in the media.
“Ownership of property is something that is on record. You can go to the register of properties, you will find which properties I own. So what on earth will make me go to my declaration and say ‘I live in this house, last year I said I don’t own it, now I own it’? If I own it there will be a record that shows I’m the owner of that property. And the member knows the truth but they listen to journalists who work with them to come and ask us questions here that are funny.”
Mashatile said the matter of the ownership of his residences had been brought to a close.
“I don’t know what I need to share with the country. Everybody knows where I live. I’ve declared everything around me. I don’t have smaller skeletons I have to share with anybody. My life is as transparent as it is. And that’s what I wrote in my declaration, this is where I live, this is how the house is owned.”
On the subject of dysfunctional municipalities, Mashatile said municipalities in the country owe water boards a whopping R25.1bn.
The National Treasury has agreed to withhold equitable share transfers to the worst performing municipalities in terms of nonpayment to water boards at the request of the department of water and sanitation.
“So if the municipality does not pay water boards, National Treasury will top slice funds that would otherwise have to be transferred to that municipality to be able to pay the water boards.
“The minister of water and sanitation has announced that Mangaung, Johannesburg and Tshwane metropolitan municipalities have already managed to pay off debts to the water boards.”
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