By Jan Gerber.
The ANC blocked the establishment of an ad hoc committee to investigate the scandal surrounding a break-in at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo game farm Phala Phala.
All the opposition parties present – DA, EFF, IFP, FF Plus, ACDP, UDM, ATM, and PAC – except GOOD, voted in favour of the motion.
But the ANC’s majority, supplemented by GOOD’s two votes, defeated the motion 199 to 126.
When the motion was debated the previous day, the ANC said a Section 89 process was under way, with an independent panel appointed to determine a prima facie case for Ramaphosa to answer, rendering the DA’s motion superfluous.
The DA, and other opposition parties, argued that this was not the case, as the Section 89 process would only be seized with Ramaphosa’s impeachment, and the ad hoc committee would have a much wider scope, also investigating other state agencies involved.
The ANC further argued that Parliament shouldn’t probe the matter while other law enforcement agencies were investigating.
This was the same argument it used against an ad hoc committee investigating state capture in 2016.
Ramaphosa conceded that this was the wrong approach to the State Capture Commission and Chief Justice Raymond Zondo took a dim view of it.
In a statement released shortly after the vote, Gwarube said the ANC caucus had once again failed in its constitutional duty by protecting Ramaphosa and his Cabinet from accountability.
Gwarube: The ANC is beyond the point of self-correction. They have learnt no lessons from the past decade, instead they continue to hollow out Parliament in order to shield many in their ranks from accountability. It is truly a sad day in our democracy when a logical motion meant to enable Members of Parliament to do their work is shot down due to narrow political interests.
This is the same as the ANC in the 5th Parliament who protected former president Jacob Zuma and his ministers from being held responsible for Nkandla and state capture.”
Gwarube said Parliament must be a bipartisan platform where decisions are based on principle and the rule of law and not dictated to by ANC factional battles and political jostling.
“As MPs, we had a unique opportunity to fulfill our constitutional obligations of holding the executive to account, but the ruling party has shown its disdain for the institution once again,” she said.
“History will judge every MP who voted against accountability harshly. In effect, a vote against this motion was a clear message to the people of South Africa that there are a set of rules for the ANC and the politically connected; while there is a different set of rules for ordinary people.”
The ANC caucus defended its decision not to support a motion for the establishment of an ad hoc committee into Phala Phala by doubling down on the discredited notion that law enforcement agencies must first investigate alleged malfeasance before Parliament can act.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said when dealing with such a matter, “we should be guided by the principles of law and facts, as opposed to what an individual or political party wish to be the desired outcome”.
She mentioned that the South African Reserve Bank’s Financial Surveillance department is probing allegations related to the matter of foreign-exchange transactions connected to the burglary at the farm. Furthermore, the Public Protector is also investigating the matter.
Majodina said the ANC caucus’ standpoint is that “due process must be followed in order to establish the facts, so that evidence informs how Parliament should respond”.
She said the DA’s claims that the ANC caucus is shielding Ramaphosa and disrespecting Parliament is therefore not true.
“It is because we respect the decision of the National Assembly and the competency of the independent panel, that we disagree that an ad hoc committee should be set up as a parallel process. We respect the Section 89 process and it must be given space to conclude its work,” she said.
Phala Phala became a burning issue in June after the former director-general at the State Security Agency and former commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, opened a kidnapping and money laundering case against Ramaphosa, Presidential Protection Unit head Major-General Wally Rhoode, and Crime Intelligence members for allegedly concealing a burglary at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in February 2020.
According to Fraser’s affidavit, Ramaphosa had at least $4 million in cash stashed in a couch at his game farm – and then played a part in a cover-up following an allegedly illegal investigation into the matter.
On Thursday, Ramaphosa will answer questions in the National Assembly, where he will have to respond to the supplementary questions on the question on Phala Phala he refused to answer almost a month ago.