New minister of communications Faith Muthambi is sworn in at a ceremony in Pretoria on Monday, 26 May 2014. With her is Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. Picture: GCIS/SAPA
Parliament must lay criminal charges against former communications minister Faith Muthambi for lying under oath. And she must also be hauled before ethics committee for violating the executive ethics code.
So says the DA in light of allegations that surfaced over the weekend that the now minister of public service and administration shared confidential Cabinet memos with Gupta-linked companies.
However, the DA’s MPs are not alone in expressing concern.
In one of the emails, which Gupta lawyer Gert van der Merwe dismissed as “fake news” and aimed at bolstering the failed ANC national executive committee motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma over the weekend in Irene, Minister Muthambi wrote to Tony Gupta and his staff members.
She was directly discussing government policy with a private company. She appears to have tipped off Oakbay executives on various changes in a government memorandum on policy changes to her department.
The timeline of the email indicates President Zuma may not have approved the changes at that time.
READ MORE: Gupta family could be suing if emails were ‘hacked’
In the emails, Muthambi outlined pending changes to the Electronic Communications Act, the Sentech Act and the Broadband Infraco Act. The Cabinet memo concerned dealt with the transfer of ICASA, Sentech and Broadband Infraco from the department of telecommunications and postal services to her department.
In one of the emails, and based on its tone, Muthambi sounds unsettled about the objection from Dr Siyabonga Cwele, the telecommunications minister, to the planned transfer of powers to Muthambi.
Email from Muthambi to the Guptas on changes
Muthambi attached a letter she wrote to Cwele on the 26th of November 2014 requesting “that [the] minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services consult with the Minister of Communication before re-tabling the policy at Cabinet for approval so that we may address these concerns in advance”.
In the attached memo Muthambi also reminds Cwele that “the switch-off date for the analogue signal is to be determined by me”. It is not clear on what basis she shared this info with Gupta executives, the circle that included the president’s son Duduzane Zuma.
Muthambi allegedly left the SABC in a shambles and has been criticised for mismanaging the digital terrestrial migration process. The new communications minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, made minor changes on the encryption matter soon after assuming office.
A cabinet minister is sworn to secrecy
The ANC-affiliated chairperson of the portfolio committee on public service and administration, Dr Makhosi Khoza, told The Citizen that, if it was true that Muthambi had shared the information, she would have to account to Parliament “under which circumstances the information was shared with outside companies”.
“And if indeed she did it the committee will be extremely concerned as we are a country battling with corruption. A Cabinet minister is sworn to secrecy and such information [Cabinet memos] cannot be shared with anyone who is not a member of the executive,” she added.
Dr Khoza explained that not only would such actions violate chapter 10 of the constitution, they would also unfairly advantage one service provider at the expense of the others.
“In terms of the constitution, all service providers are equal before the law,” she explained.
The chairperson was supported in this view by Narend Singh, an IFP MP. Singh said that such an action was worrying as he remembered from his time “as part of the executive that Cabinet memos are even labelled confidential and cannot just be forwarded to anyone outside of the executive”.
“There must be an investigation to get to the bottom of this matter,” he told The Citizen.
DA shadow minister of communications Phumzile van Damme said another matter Muthambi would have to come clean on is was regarding her relationships with the Guptas.
“During the SABC ad-hoc committee hearings Muthambi said that she has no relationship with the Guptas; now these emails are telling us something else,” she said.
Both the cabinet spokesperson, Minister Dlodlo, and Minister Muthambi’s ministerial spokesperson, although contacted, were yet to respond to The Citizen’s questions.
http://https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-national/read-damning-emails-prove-guptas-run-sa/
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