By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Parliament’s legal services say there is nothing stopping Members of Parliament from processing the state capture commission reports, especially the sections pertaining to the institution and its oversight role.
In a legal opinion sent to parliament speaker Mapisa-Nqakula which she shared with political parties for the first time on Friday, parliament’s legal services said MPs could go ahead and process the reports which must be carefully scrutinised.
Although the Speaker’s memo does not name anyone, the legal opinion dated 22 March that was sent to all political parties in Parliament identifies for joint ethics committee scrutiny National Assembly House Chairperson Cedric Frolick, who was recently elected co-chairperson of the joint KwaZulu-Natal flood ad hoc committee, and Winnie Ngwenya, former ANC MP on the correctional services committee and now National Council of Provinces (NCOP) delegate.
It states that the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) has already taken steps to consider these allegations in more detail in as far as they relate to its financial oversight functions and that other portfolio committees may do the same.
Parliament said on Monday evening that the reports would be processed through various structures of the institution.
“The rules committee will, at an opportune time, consider how best to process the reports and implementation in their entirety, “said Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
Mothapo said President Cyril Ramaphosa had submitted a report dealing with former and serving members of Parliament.
He said the ethics committee would deal with the implicated MPs who were serving in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.
“Accordingly, the joint committee on ethics and members’ interest has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of members’ interests for assembly and Parliament council members.
“This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place. The president has committed to submit the rest of the reports along with the implementation plan on or before 31 August 2022,” said Mothapo.
The reports published to date identify several former and current MPs who are implicated in conduct that may constitute illegal, unlawful or unethical behaviour. Implicated MPs include Gwede Mantashe, Nomvula Mokonyane, Vincent Smith and Thabang Makwetla
The legal opinion states that for the purposes of the state caprture report, it will be necessary for parliament to determine whether implicated MPs have breached or failed to comply in particular with any provisions of the Ethics Code or the Powers Act.