ANC ‘refuses to act’ on alleged corrupt officials

Following his resignation as finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene yesterday also resigned as a member of parliament, the ANC caucus has confirmed.

“There are very few people who are able to own up to an error of judgment, comrade Nene is amongst the few,” said ANC parliamentary chief whip Jackson Mthembu in a statement.

Prior to his resignation last week, Nene apologised to the nation for having shown poor judgment in meeting the Gupta family during his tenure as deputy finance minister and then finance minister under Jacob Zuma, and for not having disclosed these meetings earlier.

He has been commended for falling on his sword, but is not the only governing party member facing allegations of corruption and impropriety, with several instead having been promoted or reshuffled to high-profile positions.

The ANC’s commitment to dealing decisively with its scandalous members has come under question after it decided this week to refer the case of its senior members implicated in the VBS “heist” to its integrity commission.

A political analyst, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, said the integrity commission was dysfunctional and unable to act.

He said, however, there was no lack of efficient instruments to deal with ill-disciplined members because the country and the party had constitutional codes of conduct and guidelines on misconduct.

The ANC over the years has shown an inability to successfully process disciplinary cases involving its senior members.

Among those are the cases of former president Jacob Zuma, who faced a myriad of corruption and fraud charges and further allegations emanating from the Nkandla saga, ministers who lied under oath and small-town councillors who stole money meant to commemorate Nelson Mandela.

Now, close to a crucial national election in 2019, another more serious case of corruption involving the ANC’s top members in Limpopo has emerged.

Limpopo provincial deputy chairperson Florence Radzilani and provincial treasurer Danny Msiza were among 53 people named in the report by advocate Terry Motau and Werksmans Attorneys that found about R2 billion had been stolen from the VBS Mutual Bank.

This led to ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, himself no stranger to controversy, announcing their national working committee decided to refer the matter to the integrity commission, headed by ANC stalwart George Mashamba.

The commission’s record leaves a lot to be desired.

Its predecessor proved to be useless when Zuma refused its instruction to resign following his controversial firing of former finance minister Pravin Gordhan.

It also has yet to pronounce on what it plans to do about former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba and Nene, who were found to have lied under oath.

Dlamini was found by the Constitutional Court to have falsified information about contracts awarded by the South African Social Security Agency’s case. Gigaba was found to have lied on the Fireblade Aviation matter, in which he was challenged by the company in 2016 for rejecting its application for a luxury terminal at the OR Tambo International Airport, allegedly due to pressure from the Guptas.

“The [integrity] committee appears to be an advisory committee on matters of integrity and ethical conduct,” said Maluleke. “Besides, it is an internal body. As such it has limited power, especially because it is operating in a factionalised environment. That is why ANC members tend to rely on the courts to resolve disputes, instead of the party.”

Legal expert Sheena de Figueiredo, an associate partner at HJW Attorneys in Johannesburg, said in a case of a witness who lied under oath, it is usually the victim or complainant who lays a criminal complaint. In cases involving a public servant or minister, any interested or affected party can lay criminal charges. And the public protector provides another avenue of recourse.

“It is my opinion that there is not any one person who can be blamed for the lack of action,” she said. “Any concerned party could lay criminal charges. However the failure of the president to take any action does lead to some concern.

“It does take time to perform a full investigation, especially on the part of a minister, as this kind of accusation is not taken lightly, and so one can hope that perhaps the delay is due to an investigation being under way.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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