Is Busi Mavuso the saviour of Scopa?
BUSI Mavuso is a board member of Eskom. She is also the CEO of Business Leadership South Africa. Scopa is the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts. In appearing before Scopa recently, dealing with the Eskom mess, she was asked to leave when she told the truth.
Her “offence” was to decline, in her capacity as an Eskom board member, to accept the smear that the board and the CEO, Andre de Ruyter, both appointed by the government, should accept the blame for the mess Eskom has become. She, the board members and De Ruyter must accept scrutiny and accountability, but what about the ANC?
She stated that it was the fault of ANC government inaction over many years. Everyone in South Africa, must know this. After all, president Jacob Zuma appointed Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gordhan to fix Eskom a decade ago, long before the current Eskom board and long before the exceptionally brave De Ruyter agreed to take on an almost impossible task.
Presumably, the modern-day Scopa prefers witnesses to tell lies or at least to “gild the lily” to avoid offending the government and avoid embarrassing the ANC. That the chairperson of Scopa, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, a member of the IFP saw fit to throw her out for “grandstanding”, seems to observers to be a repudiation of the role he has sworn to fulfil without fear or favour.
If Scopa is sliding down the slippery slope of mediocrity and integrity, like Parliament’s ethics committee did recently on the Mkhize matter, then we perhaps have an answer to the question posed in a PhD thesis by Koliswa M Matebese-Notshulwana. “Why is there a growing problem of financial misconduct and abuse of public funds in the public sector despite the existence of Scopa as a parliamentary oversight mechanism?”
The thesis concludes that “notwithstanding the good intentions underlying the oversight role of Scopa, democratic South Africa’s financial management continues to be afflicted by corruption, fraud and theft. Failure to take action against cases of fraud and corruption brings into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the oversight role of Parliament”. There can surely be no stronger indictment of Scopa and Parliament failing to carry out their roles effectively?
Parliament is not what it was in the early days of our democracy. Those of us who care about Parliament find it painful to witness the decline of the mechanisms set up to protect our democracy. It is the inevitable consequence of a political party having been in power far too long for the good of the country (or of itself, for that matter). But surely, we do not have to wait until 2024 when the ANC will possibly lose its majority and be replaced by a new government – in all probability a multiparty government? That would be like a blast of fresh air and renewal through all our institutions.
That process could begin now. Parliament should appoint an all-party committee to consider whether all its institutions, including Scopa and the ethics committee are working satisfactorily and what regulatory or legislative amendments are necessary to strengthen that oversight function.
South Africa may yet have cause to thank Busi Mavuso for her straightforward and truthful evidence before Scopa.