Africa-Press – South-Africa. Parliament’s presiding officers, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo will “engage” with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at an “appropriate time” about his statement that he doubts Parliament will be able to stop another Gupta-style state capture.
Zondo chaired the State Capture Inquiry, which made damning findings about Parliament’s inability to stem the tide of corruption during the state capture era.
When he delivered the keynote address at the News24 On the Record Summit last week, he expressed reservations he had about whether Parliament could prevent state capture from happening again, and said he doubted that ANC MPs would change their behaviour.
“There are many questions that arise in the context of what I call the Gupta-Zuma state capture. One of them is why Parliament did not stop this,” he said.
He added :
“Many times, opposition parties tabled motions for the establishment of inquiries to look into the allegations of the influence of the Guptas on the president.
“A number of parties also tabled motions of no confidence in the president as a way of trying to stop this, but of course, the majority party would have nothing to do with it.”
“I doubt that they (MPs) would act differently because the evidence was quite clear that members of the majority party are not expected to support a motion of no confidence in the president of the country who belongs to their party.
“Then the question arises if we are at risk of what happened again and Parliament not being able to act. These are matters that must be considered. They are very difficult matters.”
READ | Should state capture reoccur, the ANC would be unlikely to prevent it – Zondo
In a statement, the presiding officers expressed “concern” about Zondo’s remarks.
They said Parliament was waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s action plan on the Zondo Commission’s findings.
“Parliament had, in the interim, also immediately implemented remedial measures on matters emerging from the reports, which directly requires its action. Further analysis is being undertaken internally to ensure all matters emanating from the report are given due regard,” the statement read.
“Only then can Parliament’s commitment to ensure the implementation of remedial actions to root out the phenomenon of state capture and ensure preventative interventions…be judged.”
The final parts of the commission’s reports were released on 22 June.
Parliament, with the ANC’s support, has deferred dealing substantially with the report until Ramaphosa – the head of the executive – delivers his implementation plan in October.
READ | Parliament’s chair of chairs Cedric Frolick referred to ethics committee after Zondo findings
In a meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee in May, DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube (the deputy chief whip at the time) asked for Parliament to start work on the parts of the report that pertained to it, aas the fourth part also raised Parliament’s role during the capture of Eskom.
She was stonewalled by high-ranking ANC MPs, including Mapisa-Nqakula, who insisted Parliament should only deal with the report after Ramaphosa tabled it and his implementation plan.
In March, after tabling the third part of the commission’s report, which implicated MPs, notably, influential House chairperson for committees or chair of chairs Cedric Frolick, Ramaphosa wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula.
He expressed his appreciation that “Parliament will need to engage in its own process on the recommendations that affect it directly”.
Mapisa-Nqakula also requested a legal opinion. The legal opinion stated that dealing with the report could start before the final parts of the report have been released. It also recommended that Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests should investigate MPs implicated in the report.
Mapisa-Nqakula only took action on the legal opinion in mid-May.
The ANC has also publicly distanced itself from the commission’s findings on cadre deployment.
In their affidavit in response to the DA’s court application to outlaw the ANC policy of cadre deployment, ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile said the ANC wasn’t bound by the commission’s findings, or the Constitution.
In his responding affidavit, Ramaphosa contradicted Zondo’s finding that the policy was unconstitutional and unlawful.
Ramaphosa pointed out that the recommendations weren’t binding but were there to “assist [him], as president of the country, with the issues at the heart of this investigation”.
Last week, ANC MP Tyotyo James said: “Unfortunately, Judge Zondo is not governing on our behalf. Yes, he is the chairperson of the state capture commission. Yes, whatever he has raised in that report, the president will take that report to Parliament, and Parliament will debate that.”
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