A minister in the presidency, three deputy ministers and five other MPs have been slapped with fines of between R10 000 and R12 500 each for violating parliament’s code of ethics over their declarations of financial interests.
They include top minister in the presidency Maropene Ramokgopa, deputy justice minister Andries Nel, his transport counterpart Mkhuleko Hlengwa and Sihile Zikalala of public works.
Ramokgopa is also a senior ANC leader who is among the party’s top seven leaders.
This was after the national legislature’s joint-committee on ethics and members’ interests’ rejected their excuses for being tardy over the submission of their declarations of financial interests in October last year.
The explanations for the tardiness, ranged from single motherhood, inexperience with parliament’s processes, unfamiliarity with the disclosure system and having to juggle demanding political party roles outside of parliament were some of the reasons advance by the tardy MPs.
Others claimed missing WhatsApp message reminders, delayed emails citing “technical errors” while other others simply ignored repeated reminders from the ethics committee.
“The member failed and/or neglected to submit both a public and confidential disclosure by the due date of 14 October 2024. The member did not provide any reasons for his non-compliance with the due date. The committee found that the member breached the code,” said the committee of Ramokgopa in its report.
For their delinquency, both Ramokgopa and Hlengwa have been R10 000 penalty each, accompanied by a public scolding in the house.
Deputy minister of public works and infrastructure Sihle Zikalala told the ethics committee that he had confused the differing deadlines of submitting to the presidency and parliament, saying it was “an oversight on his part and he regrets not complying.” But that did not fly with the ethics as he too, was fined R10 000 for missing the October 14 deadline, despite “vowing that the oversight will not happen again.”
Deputy minister of justice and constitutional development Andries Nel denied having received correspondence regarding disclosure.
He claimed to have never received the declarations forms and that he was not familiar with parliament’s electronic filing system, Marang.
Nel, a qualified lawyer trusted by the ANC in helping on complex legal issues, sought to contest his sanction.
He argued that the acting registrar of member’s interests should have contacted him directly, and not trough the office of the chief whip of the ANC.
“The member stated he intended to approach a court of law to review the decision of the committee, requesting all documents relating to his matter so he could proceed to review the decision of the committee.
However, the ethics committee went ahead and fined Nel R10 000 for missing its deadline.
uMkhonto we Sizwe MP Nhlamulo Ndhlela simply told the committee he missed their deadline because his role as the party’s spokesperson was demanding.
Ndhlela also missed the training offered by the office of the registrar to MPs during their induction, which he said was one of the reasons why he did not abide by the deadline of the ethics committee.
“As such, he did not have the insight regarding important information that was presented to the members and the importance of non-disclosure. He stated that had he attended the training he would have grasped the necessary elements and deadlines.”
Pleading for leniency, he claims to have tried to comply when he learnt of the due date but struggled with his passwords and failed to reach IT. The committee rejected all his excuses and slapped him with a R10 000 fine.
Then enter another ANC MP, Masetshego Mofokeng. She told the ethics committee that she had fallen ill, was a single mother of two and parliamentary oversight trips led to her missing the deadline.
“She stated that as a new member she had many internal and procedural processes that she had to acquaint herself with. She was sick and had to undergo treatment, which coincided with the recess period. A week before the due date, she was on oversight assignment and returned to the precinct after hours and could not complete the disclosures.”
As first time offenders, the members have all been fined R10 000, with and will be publicly reprimanded in full view of all the members of parliament for their actions.
Former Kimberley Mayor Patrick Mabilo has been slapped with a R12 500 fine.
**TimesLIVE**