The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has found that there is no substance to a complaint made by the suspended Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, against three Members of Parliament. The suspended Public Protector made allegations of breach of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests against the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and MPs Ms Pemmy Majodina and Mr Richard Dyantyi.
In a closed meeting held on Wednesday, 6 September 2023, the committee dismissed the complaint, which was linked to the recently concluded Section 194 Enquiry into Adv Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office. “The committee is satisfied that it has followed all the principles and spirit of the code, which compels the committee to be guided by principles of promptness, fairness, and consistency,” said Ms Lydia Moshodi, the co-Chairperson of the committee.
Following a committee decision made in June 2023, some members of the Ethics committee recused themselves from participating in the consideration of the complaint, to protect the integrity of the process and ensure credibility because they were also serving as members of the Section 194 committee.
The committee found that the complaint against the Speaker was unfounded because the letter dispatched by Advocate Mkhwebane to the Speaker on 23 May 2023 did not include any detail, including the names of Members of Parliament allegedly implicated in the bribery/corruption allegations. Also, that the political affiliation of the Members of the Parliament was not disclosed, and they were only referred to as “senior members of the National Assembly”, meaning they could have been members of any political party represented in the National Assembly.
Ms Mapisa-Nqakula could therefore not have disclosed the content of any “disclosure” because there was no detail in the letter. The suspended Public Protector had alleged that the Speaker had breached the code by disclosing the identity of the whistleblower and the content of the disclosure and unfairly advantaged the implicated members, who are all members of the same political party as the Speaker, thereby displaying actual or a reasonable apprehension of bias.
The committee also found that the Speaker did not breach the code because Adv Mkhwebane’s avidavit to the committee acknowledged that the details of the intended complaint emanated from a leak of a South African Police Service complaint made by Mr David Skhosana (Adv Mkhwebane’s husband) and not Ms Mapisa-Nqakula. As a result, the complaint against the Speaker was unsubstantiated.
With regard to the complaint against Ms Majodina and Mr Dyantyi, the committee found that the version of events offered by Mr Skosana to the SAPS, which forms the basis of the complaint, does not specifically mention the two Members of Parliament. Also, the audio recordings do not mention the two Members of Parliament and the WhatsApp messages do not link the two Members of Parliament to the allegation. Furthermore, the committee noted that parts of the WhatsApp messages and audio recordings between the now late Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Mr Skosana appear to be missing and therefore may not be a true reflection of the communication between them.
With all these facts in mind, the committee found that the evidence before it does not provide a conclusion on the probability that the two MPs solicited a bribe of R200 000 in respect of the Section 914 Inquiry. Therefore, the committee found that the complaint is unfounded, and that Mr Dyantyi and Ms Majodina did not breach the code.
The committee did not consider the complaint against the late Ms Joemat-Pettersson because the code prescribes that it is only applicable to Members of Parliament. Ms Joemat-Pettersson ceased to be a member from the date of her death on 5 June 2023.
Malatswa Molepo
8 September 2023
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