Fifteen months after the release of the final report of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture Inquiry, Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has cleared four senior ANC MPs who were implicated in the report.
One of the MPs cleared is Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi, who was mentioned in Part 4 of the commission’s report for allegedly receiving payments from controversial businessman Edwin Sodi.
Nxesi defended himself by stating that the payments were for fundraising purposes and not personal gain. He provided the committee with an affidavit explaining that the funds were raised to assist two families in financial need.
[ Parliament’s Ethics Committee Findings On VBS Spares Malema Due To Lack Of Evidence ]
The committee reviewed the evidence of the payments and concluded that Nxesi did not breach the code of conduct.
Another ANC MP, Cedric Frolick, was also cleared by the committee. Frolick was implicated in Part 3 of the Zondo report for allegedly having questionable dealings with Bosasa.
It was alleged that he played a role in influencing the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and Justice for Bosasa’s benefit.
The committee explained that Frolick’s actions predated the adoption of the Code of Ethical Conduct and therefore could not be applied retrospectively.
The committee also cleared former mineral resources minister and current MP Mosebenzi Zwane. Activist Zackie Achmat accused Zwane of breaching the Code of Conduct in relation to his involvement with the Gupta family’s Vrede dairy farm matter.
However, the committee determined that the matter fell outside of its jurisdiction as Zwane was an MEC in the Free State at the time and not a member of Parliament.
Winnie Ngwenya, another ANC MP, was referred to the committee for allegedly taking money from Bosasa while serving on the portfolio committee on correctional services.
Ngwenya denied the allegations and stated that she had no connection to the Bosasa matter. The committee accepted her explanation and found that she did not breach the Code of Conduct.
These findings come shortly after the committee found EFF MP Floyd Shivambu guilty of breaching the code of conduct for failing to declare a payment he received from his brother’s company. The payment was related to the VBS bank scandal.
