Parliament ‘woke up’ after state capture allegations, Zondo told

Appearing at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise conceded that Parliament had “woken up” in dealing with its oversight role after state capture allegations emerged.

Modise testified on Parliamentary oversight-related matters on Monday before chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

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Earlier this year, Zondo heard testimony from former and current MPs on how Parliament failed to prevent large-scale looting of the state and how Parliament’s oversight functions weren’t properly funded.

During the proceedings, Modise told the commission Parliamentary committees had “no excuse” in dealing with their oversight functions by asking specific questions, investigating and calling or summoning witnesses.

Modise said Parliament also has powers that allow MPs to “put the executive on the spot”.

“That it important because committees of Parliament… committees in the legislation have [executive] powers. So I want to upfront say it is a pity that we had to wake up when the issues of allegations of state capture were there because these are the powers of the committees. We point this out because after the allegations of state capture… it was important for us to begin to refocus the committees and Parliament itself into pointedly being deliberate about following up with issues,” she said.

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Modise said Parliament has since refocused its committees to make them more deliberate about following up on issues, adding that the matter would be intensified before the current Parliament term ends.

She further conceded that Parliament had not followed up on its letters to the executive regarding accountability.

Commenting on the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) judgment regarding Nkandla (former president Jacob Zuma’s home), Modise said the ruling was a turning point for Parliament to understand its mandate better.

“Chairperson before that judgement… I suspect that the National Assembly looked at its powers and functions and decided that in fact it is within its own right to review and to take course of action they wanted to take, but that decision of the court has actually empowered Parliament to begin to do things properly,” she said.

In 2016, the ConCourt judgement found Parliament had failed in its oversight function regarding upgrades at former president Jacob Zuma’s homestead in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Dealing with state capture emails linked to ministers after a short tea break, Modise said she had no knowledge of a parliamentary directive  to investigate the allegations as they were more serious than “usual maladministration”.

“The portfolio committees have powers to investigate and naturally we would have expected immediately there is something like this the committee would investigate without being prompted to do so,” she said.

Modise said former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbele and House chairperson Cedric Frolick should have “taken the matter forward”.

READ MORE: Ministers attended ANC study groups before oversight meetings, Zondo hears

She further said she did not know why there was no immediate investigation conducted by Parliament into the Gupta leaks after some MPs came out in public to address the allegations.

“So sometimes when allegations come out until they are investigated you are not sure whether it is politicking or whether they are facts. Clearly as I say the chairpersons should have followed up on it or the ministers in their respective portfolios… these allegations are coming, what do you say.

“But when the emails were leaked it no longer just became propaganda or political games… it became real and therefore I would understand if Mr Frolick say you definitely need to investigate these matters,” she said.

“It is regrettable that in fact… the impression is that Parliament only woke up when things were really bad and for that we must apologise to the people of South Africa.”

Watch the proceedings below, courtesy of eNCA.