Choice of Rise Mzansi’s Zibi as Scopa chair raises heckles

The appointment of Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi as chair of parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) is stirring up the EFF and ActionSA.

Zibi was elected unopposed to the position at a Scopa meeting on Wednesday.

ActionSA and EFF objected to Zibi’s election

ActionSA and the EFF objected to Zibi’s election, arguing that his party was not in the opposition, thus going against the long-held tradition that Scopa is chaired by the opposition.

The EFF’s Veronica Mente raised the objection: “The principle and the convention of this parliament have been that the opposition must chair Scopa.

“Given the 29 May results and the decision afterwards that this country would be governed by a government of national unity (GNU), which your party is part of, we do not consider your party as the opposition,” Mente said during the proceedings.

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Zibi was nominated by the ANC’s Lusizo Makhubela and backed by the DA’s Patrick Atkinson, who are part of the parties in the GNU.

ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip, who was also considered for the position, arrived late to the sitting after Zibi’s election.

‘Nothing less than a reward’

Trollip described Zibi’s appointment as “nothing less than a reward” for the leader of Rise Mzansi for its participation in the multiparty government.

“The multiparty government clearly wishes to exercise oversight over itself by deploying one of its own to head up this critical oversight committee.

“His position, now gifted to a member of the multiparty government, which already commands a 70% majority in parliament, serves to potentially neuter effective oversight over government expenditure and outcomes-related performance.”

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Trollip emphasised that a multiparty coalition needed to be held accountable by a strong, rational opposition.

“The role of a Scopa chair is vital, especially in the context of this new government.

“A strong government needs a counterbalancing force in opposition that uses the considerable powers afforded to a Scopa chair to hold the government to account.

Government officials, political office bearers and vendors to the state can be subpoenaed to appear before Scopa to account and this appointment is bound to compromise objective and critical oversight,” he said.

Objections did not hold weight

However, independent political analyst Goodenough Mashego argued that the objections did not hold weight.

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He said parliament could put anybody in charge of Scopa, as long as it did not weaken the committee through the people in it.

“I don’t think it’s an issue of saying that the Scopa chair does not come from opposition parties, or that there’s not going to be proper oversight.

“There will be proper oversight because Scopa is an organisation, not the chair’s organisation.

“It works much on paperwork, not on political parties,” he explained.

Appointment about who Zibi is as a person

Mashego added that the appointment was really about who Zibi is as a person.

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“His credentials cannot be questioned when it comes to business and understanding how money moves from A to B.

This is not about political parties; it’s about the right person for the position,” he added.