Ramaphosa won’t appear before Scopa over ANC leaked audio after MPs vote

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has resolved not to invite President Cyril Ramaphosa to appear before the committee to response to allegations of public funds being used for ANC campaigns.

Scopa previously gave Ramaphosa 10 days to account for remarks he made in a leaked audio recording at one of ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meetings last year.

‘Treating us like children’

Ramaphosa’s responses to Scopa’s questions, as well as a legal opinion written by Parliament’s legal services department, was table before the committee during a meeting on Wednesday evening.

Following a back-and-forth, a majority of the members in the committee decided against inviting Ramaphosa.

Scopa previously opted against summoning Ramaphosa due to the president not showing any intention to not cooperate with the committee.

In the proceedings, six MPs voted not to invite Ramaphosa against the four MPs – including Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Veronica Mente – who wanted the president to appear before the committee.

Mente indicated that the EFF would “explore other avenues” in bid to hold the president accountable.

“I note the outcome and wish to register that we, as the EFF, will explore other avenues in dealing with this particular matter of a person that can be shielded from accountability by the majority,” she said.

Earlier in the meeting, Mente criticised Ramaphosa’s answers after the president explained that he had relied on public information for his comments in the audio.

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“The response is nothing short of mocking us. [The president] is treating us like children or some sort as if we are people who have absolutely nothing to do, but to pursue some useless venture of asking questions to people who make it their business to say things they don’t want to expand on.

“The response here doesn’t [deal with] what was said in the recording and to the context there of [as well]. The president says ‘we all know’, he doesn’t ‘we all heard’, that public money gets spent for our issues as the ANC,” she said.

ANC Scopa members said the committee should wait for the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture to released its final report – which will be released by the end of February – to see what it says regarding the State Security Agency (SSA).

“Why would you want to bring someone before [us], who has given you a response in writing? Let’s accept that we tried. We’ve got the answers,” ANC MP Nokuzola Tolashe said.

Last year, SSA acting director-general, Loyiso Jafta told the commission that the government institution’s money was used to fund ANC campaigns ahead the party’s 2017 Nasrec elective conference.

Jafta claimed that a sum of R125 million could not be accounted for in the financial year 2017-2018.

Meanwhile, Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said that the committee would go through the legal opinion, and compile “an operational framework” in order to pave a way forward.

“[We will] present that to the committee next week or probably even sooner and then we going to know how we are gonna be dealing with this matter. The legal opinion is broad and presents a variety of options,” he said.

According to the legal opinion, Scopa has the mandate to probe Ramaphosa’s remarks “if, indeed, public funds of any government department or public entity had been utilised for unauthorised purposes”.

The committee, however, cannot “deal with any alleged ethical breaches of the president” because only Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane can determine whether Ramaphosa broke the law.

It is not within Scopa’s mandate to consider Ramaphosa’s conduct or whether he had failed to share information with the State Capture Commission, as alleged.

Public Protector probe

ANC MP and Scopa whip Mervyn Dirks  – who recently failed to overturn his suspension – wrote to Scopa in December requesting the committee to summon Ramaphosa to answer to the allegations.

Dirks argued in his court papers that he was merely performing his oversight role as a member of Parliament by holding the executive to account.

READ MORE: Mkhwebane’s mammoth task over probe into Ramaphosa’s statement

The MP – who is also facing disciplinary proceedings – laid a complaint with the Office of the Public Protector to investigate the matter.

Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segalwe confirmed in a statement that the public protector will investigate the alleged breach of the Executive Code of Ethics against Ramaphosa after it received the complaint.

Segalwe further indicated the investigation would be completed within 30 days, in line with the Executive Members Ethics Act 82 of 1998 (EMEA).