By Liezl Human.
@MadeleneCronje.
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests found former minister of transport and current MP Joe Maswanganyi “failed to understand his role as the minister of transport” when he failed to appoint a new board for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) in 2017.
Maswanganyi was minister from April 2017 to February 2018 in Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet.
He is currently chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance.
On 13 June, the committee said, in response to a complaint it received against the MP, it would recommend to Parliament Maswanganyi should be suspended from “his seat in all parliamentary debates and sittings, and from committee meetings and committee-related functions and operations from 10 October 2023 to 1 December 2023”.
Parliament must now either accept or reject this recommendation.
The committee found Maswanganyi “failed to … act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed in him and … maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity of Parliament and thereby engender the respect and confidence that society needs to have in Parliament as a representative institution”.
Commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind laid complaints against six MPs, including Maswanganyi, in August last year, saying they were involved in allowing Prasa to slide into ruin and should be held to account.
The organisation also launched court proceedings against the parliamentary committee in the Western Cape High Court in April this year because of its inaction against the six implicated MPs.
Regarding the suspension of Maswanganyi, #UniteBehind director Zackie Achmat told GroundUp: “#UniteBehind accepts that this is a very small but important step.”
However, Achmat said it was “not enough to achieve justice” against those MPs responsible for the “disaster at Prasa”.
Despite recommending suspension, the committee found Maswanganyi was not in breach with regards to two other complaints laid by #UniteBehind.
The first complaint relates to the R79 million that was paid to Swifambo.
The second relates to “unlawful conduct” by Maswanganyi when he attempted to negotiate with China to develop the Moloto Rail Development Corridor.
Asked for comment, Maswanganyi directed GroundUp to parliamentary spokesperson Malatswa Molepo who directed it to the committee’s report on the complaint.
Maswanganyi told the committee “the [Prasa] board’s performance was marred by poor performance and faced declining revenues, governance failures and was in a weak financial position”.
The committee said in response to his presentation he “indicated that he received the necessary induction as a minister”, that he “should have been aware that it was his duty to appoint the Prasa board”.
It added Maswanganyi “should have appointed the board and not use Parliament’s actions as an excuse”.
Parliament had voted to dissolve the board and Maswanganyi decided “he could not go against a decision of Parliament”.