Matatiele back on the agenda for ANC and coalition partner
The portfolio committee on communications will on Tuesday be briefed by officials from Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Services Office about the circumstances surrounding Thami Ntenteni’s appointment and removal from the Media Development and Diversity Agency’s board.
In 2015, President Jacob Zuma appointed Ntenteni to the board upon recommendation of the National Assembly. However, the appointment sparked an outcry because it later emerged that Ntenteni had been convicted of culpable homicide in 1998.
Also in 2015, Ntenteni was shortlisted for appointment to the Independent Communications Authority of SA board, but his name was removed after vetting.
The ANC is meeting coalition partner the African Independent Congress (AIC) on Tuesday to discuss the Matatiele demarcation row.
The AIC wants Matatiele to fall under KwaZulu-Natal, not the Eastern Cape, where it was demarcated when provincial boundaries were redrawn.
The AIC had set Matatiele’s reincorporation into KwaZuluNatal as a precondition for entering into a coalition with the ANC, which resulted in the governing party retaining Ekurhuleni in Gauteng and in Rustenburg.
The AIC has threatened to pull out of the coalition arrangement if the ANC fails to accede to its demand.
The standing committee on finance this week begins public hearings on the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (Fica) Bill. The bill will introduce a strict oversight regime to counter money laundering.
Zuma referred the Fica bill back to Parliament — six months after its adoption — because of concerns over the constitutionality of its provision for warrantless searches in certain circumstances. The concern was that it violated the Constitution in allowing for the invasion of privacy.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha is holding a briefing on Monday about the controversial traditional courts bill. The Cabinet has given the go-ahead for public consultations on the bill, which is to be tabled in Parliament. The bill has undergone reconstruction after nongovernmental organisations and some legislatures had raised objections.