State capture: Mosebenzi Zwane sanctions ‘a joke’

The “slap on the wrist” handed by parliament to disgraced ANC MP and former minister Mosebenzi Zwane – found by the Zondo commission to have pushed the Gupta agenda, which led to the plunder of the public purse – will only encourage other politicians and civil servants to disregard ethics and defend state capture.

That’s the view of civil society advocacy group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) that described as “a trivial sanction” parliament’s decision to dock Zwane five days’ pay for various offences.

Among other recommendations, Commission of Inquiry into State Capture chair Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should criminally charge Zwane for:

• Failing to provide proper leadership while serving as MEC for human settlements, to avert the failed R1-billion housing project in the Free State.
• Pursuing the Gupta agenda – along with former Free State premier Ace Magashule, by failing to take responsibility in the provincial government’s R280-million Estina dairy project, which benefitted the Guptas.

Already charged by the NPA Investigating Directorate on the Estina matter, Zwane will appear in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein with several other accused people in a case returning to court on 29 August for pretrial.

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Parliament this week approved the report of the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests on Zwane, recommending several penalties in terms of item 10.7.8.1 of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interest, which included:

• Zwane being fined an amount equivalent to five days’ salary for receiving benefits and hospitality, not disclosed in respect of his Gupta-funded travel from Zurich to Dubai on 2 December 2015.
• Apologising in the National Assembly for the abuse of his role on the inter-ministerial committee for the issuing of a press statement on the matter of the bank accounts of the Guptas, while he served as a committee member, which was retracted by Cabinet the next day.
• An additional apology for appointing advisors who were business partners of the Guptas, Kuben Moodley and Malcolm Mabaso.
• A suspension from his seat in parliamentary debates for one parliamentary term for participating in the negotiations on the sale of the Optimum Coal Mine to Tegeta, and approving the deal.

The report followed receipt of complaints by Office of the Registrar of Members’ Interests from Democratic Alliance MP James Lorimer and Outa in 2017.

Unhappy about the Zwane parliamentary sanction not going far enough, Outa said the censure was “limited” in dealing with an MP who received benefits from the Guptas and helped them buy a mine.

“Zwane not only brought parliament into disrepute, but also the country. He should not have been appointed as an MP for the sixth parliament,” said Rudie Heyneke, an Outa expert on state capture. “Not only was he an MP, but he chaired the portfolio committee on transport until late last year.”

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The findings of the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests confirmed “there are MPs with no integrity or ethical values”, said Heyneke.

“In my view, South Africa cannot afford to have individuals like Zwane occupying positions in Cabinet, in parliament or any sphere of government,” he said. “However, we feel that the lengthy time it took to process this complaint and the limited sanction against Zwane may indicate that our parliamentarians are still defending state capture and do not regard failures of ethics as particularly important.”

Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said an important context in the Zwane saga was that it was “not satisfactory that he remains in parliament as a criminally implicated person – but not the end in the pursuit of accountability”.

University of Pretoria politics lecturer Roland Henwood said: “The parliamentary outcome on Zwane does not, in any way, reflect the serious nature of what he has done. The fact that he remains an MP with a salary and other benefits, is questionable.

“This leaves the question as to what the ANC is doing on this issue and the Zondo Commission findings – a matter the party ultimately has to deal with.

“While it may be the first step for Zwane, the sanction does not go far enough,” Henwood said.

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