Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Spat over MPs’financial disclosures
THE DA has hit back in a titfor-tat battle with the ANC over declarations by MPs of their business interests, gifts and other benefits, lodging a complaint with the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests after nine MPs – seven from the ANC and two from the EFF – missed the deadline.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said yesterday the party had noted in parliamentary documents that four MPs who had missed the deadline – extended to July 31 – had failed to provide any explanation or apology.
This comes a day after the ANC reported 11 DA MPs, including party leader Mmusi Maimane, to the ethics committee for their failure to declare contributions they received towards their campaigns for positions in the party. Maimane’s rival in the contest for party leader, Wilmot James, was also among the 11 who failed to declare contributions towards the campaign for positions in the run-up to the party’s elective congress in May.
Steenhuisen admitted the contributions should have been declared, and apologised for the “oversight”, saying he had ensured it had been corrected.
However, Moloto Mothapo, spokesman for ANC chief whip Stone Sizani, said the party’s “sudden bout of conscience” would not suffice and that the episode indicated a “deliberate attempt on the part of the transgressing DA MPs to withhold their financial interests from Parliament”.
Possible sanctions include a reprimand, a reduction of allowances for no longer than 30 days and/or the suspension of privileges, including the right to attend a sitting, for no longer than a month.
Among the ANC MPs who failed to meet the deadline for declarations were Public Service and Administration Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi.
Others were Deputy Minister for Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu and former defence minister Charles Nqakula.
The two EFF MPs were Nicholas Khoza and Lehlohonolo Mokoena. According to Parliament’s announcements, tablings and committee reports document, Nqakula, Bogopane-Zulu and Khoza had apologised for missing the deadline.