Cape Town — Former public protector, Thuli Madonsela, said it was inevitable that those impliacted by state capture, would be brought back to Parliament, as per South African law.
Madonsela cleared the air over the confusion about why the members of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and the African National Congress (ANC) were brought back to Parliament despite their roles in the Gupta state capture, The Citizen reported.
“As it stands there is no law that prevents someone that has been impeached from one arm of government to pivot to another arm of government.
“No law says if you resign while under a cloud of alleged corruption or related impropriety, you cannot be a member of parliament. The bar regarding election to parliament is only if a person has been found guilty of a crime and sentenced to five years or more,” said Madonsela.
“An additional problem is that the Electoral Act’s interpretation has been perverted to allow political parties to replace persons on their party list that were subjected to pre-election public scrutiny and based on which such party got votes, with totally new persons who were not on the party list at the time of voting.” she said.
A simplistic definition of state capture by Prof. Thuli Madonsela.
For me it sounds like our whole political system landscape, with funders/donors etc.
What is in it for them?Today we hear WMC, Oppenheimers, Menels, Ruperts etc. A web one cannot get out of. pic.twitter.com/qdPwqETvfh
— 🏰Nqaba🏰 (@_inqaba) June 30, 2024
“Until then, the people should confront political parties concerned regarding their commitment to integrity and concerns over conduct that demonstrates lack of such commitment,” said Madonsela.
During her time as a public protector, Madonsela conducted an investigation into state capture, which paved the way for the formation of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
The MK Party was under the limelight after it had planned to send five representatives to parliament, all of whom were involved in state capture, including the former chief executive for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Lucky Montana, former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama and former Sars commissioner, Tom Moyane.
Some members of the ANC fingered during the inquiry but allowed to continue with their work include the Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe, deputy ANC secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane and the party’s former MP, Malusi Gigaba.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
