Zuma-ites bringing House down
MPs’ failure to hold officers to account is burying Parliament’s credibility
IT WAS hard to imagine in March, when the Constitutional Court delivered its withering judgment on Parliament’s handling of the Nkandla affair, that the legislature’s standing could sink any lower.
In essence, the court found the nation’s public representatives had shrunk from their duty to the people to hold the executive to account.
The judgment extinguished the remaining embers of Parliament’s credibility.
Or so it seemed, until SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his merry choir of senior executives, board members and the ever-loyal Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi, pulled into town and poured scorn all over the ashes. “Why should I account to you, when you don’t give me any money?” Motsoeneng sneered.
There was a time when this kind of insolence from a government official – towards the MPs to whom he is expected in law to account – would have been unthinkable.
Motsoeneng proceeded to question whether “some” MPs were honourable, then declared they were not.
He received a gentle chiding from communications committee chairman Humphrey Maxegwana and an instruction to withdraw. He deigned to comply, but the point had been made.
Motsoeneng no longer accounts to Parliament, and nor do the SABC, Muthambi, and others, who believe their actions have the support of the one person in a position to do anything about them – the president himself..
The ANC is reeling and disoriented after its elections humiliation and unable to muster even a semblance of unity or purpose.
First there was going to be an inquiry into the SABC shambles, then there wasn’t.
First the ANC national executive committee resolved to fix the mess, then its MPs on the communications committee fell all over each other – with the partial exception of Maxegwana and MP Sharome van Schalkwyk – to swallow the hogwash that Muthambi, Motsoeneng, board member Aaron Tshidzumba and SABC acting chief executive officer James Aguma dished up in explanation for the firings and resignations of journalists and senior managers.
It was all the result of a conspiracy to discredit the ANC government, they claimed.
The ANC MPs lapped this up, thanking the SABC delegation for exposing the “truth”.
Although the ANC MPs left the SABC journalists swinging in the breeze in the morning, ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu took the opposite tack in the afternoon.
Reflecting on the gover ning party’s humbling at the elections, he said: “We further regret that some state-owned enterprises have not been acting in the best interests of our people, including the South African Airways, SABC and Eskom.”
There could be no clearer indicator of the disarray in the party – besides the yawning gaps in its ranks, evident during the debate Mthembu was addressing – than the man whose job it is to manage party discipline being flagrantly contradicted by his party’s MPs, yet carrying on as though this had not happened.
At the other end of the spectrum, ANC MP Makhosi Khoza, chairwoman of the ad hoc committee choosing a new public protector, earned the admiration of even the EFF through her deft handling of the process.
“We want more chairs like you,” EFF leader Julius Malema told her after the choice had been made.
That Khoza was able to achieve this speaks volumes about her democratic instincts and easygoing manner. But this flicker of light seems likely to be snuffed out as the focus shifts back to the relationship between the executive and the legislature. A barrage of shocks is in store. There’s the matter of SAA’s financial statements, almost a year overdue, while Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Zuma stare each other down over the appointment the minister is seeking of a board without Dudu Myeni.
That’s before this year’s annual reports come rolling in. Just how much did the SABC rack up in losses in the past year?
What did the Treasury find in its investigation into the SABC contract to build a new digital studio?
What did it sniff out in its review of the Eskom coal contracts that led the Gupta-owned Tegeta to seek an interdict preventing it from releasing its findings?
How did Denel weave around the Public Finance Management Act in concluding a deal to partner the Gupta-associated VR Laser?
How will MPs continue seeing no evil at the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks when this is all the country is talking about?
Will the president answer questions put to him in Parliament at his quarterly charade of accountability?
It will be fascinating to watch, but one thing is certain: what is left of Parliament’s reputation will be ground into the dust.