Speaker yet to table report
Official opposition pushing hard to have it released
THE report by Parliament’s legal services that identified people who misled the ad hoc committee, which probed matters at the SABC, will soon be referred to the portfolio committee on communications.
“The Speaker is considering a wide range of issues pertaining to the report. It is not gathering dust. She is processing it,” spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.
He made the comments after opposition parties demanded that Speaker Baleka Mbete table the report. The legal services handed the report to Mbete’s office about a month ago. This has prompted the official opposition to accuse Mbete of refusing to table the report because, according to them, “its contents no doubt implicate a number of her ANC comrades”.
The DA has demanded the tabling of the report, but has filed an application for its release.
“It is shocking that members of Parliament have to go to such lengths to gain access to reports emanating from their committee work,” DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said.
“Mbete doesn’t have any legal basis for withholding the report and her explanation, offered in National Assembly programme committee that the implicated persons were being consulted doesn’t hold water.
“Parliament doesn’t have an obligation to consult with those who lied to it.” She also said Mbete was obliged to table this report to ensure that Parliament performed its oversight role and that those who lied faced the consequences of their actions.
Cope’s Willie Madisha said, “We as the ad hoc committee have moved in unison at all times, but implementation is not taking place because of .... the Speaker.”
The ad hoc committee found that in many instances the evidence provided by witnesses was contradictory. “The evidence leader has been requested to analyse the contradictory testimonies and on conclusion of this exercise Parliament’s legal services office will make appropriate recommendations,” the report said.
During the inquiry, former SABC journalist Vuyo Mvoko gave evidence that the SABC’s resources were diverted to fund the controversial business breakfasts of the Gupta-owned The New Age (TNA), a competitor, and that the public broadcaster did not generate any revenue from the briefings.
These claims were disputed by former board chairperson Ben Ngubane, who said the breakfast made business sense and was at no cost to the SABC. But the interim board recently told Parliament the SABC incurred costs totalling R20m on the breakfasts.