POLITICS

Thulas Nxesi also misled parliament - Anchen Dreyer

DA MP says special committee must investigate minister over City Press claims

Nkandlagate: Minister's "Top Secret" lie must be investigated

The DA will request that Parliament establish a special committee to investigate the Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, for misleading Parliament. This follows the same request which was made by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko in respect of President Jacob Zuma (see report). 

Reports today in the City Press further reveal a number of inconsistencies in the Minister of Public Work's correspondence with Parliament. In a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, the Minister claimed that the Task Team was responsible for the classification of the Nkandlagate report, as "Top Secret" and that he received the report in this form. He further claimed that he was unable to hand over the report without it "being declassified by the authors".

This has subsequently been contradicted by the Minister's legal advisor, Phillip Masilo, who has since claimed: "the fact of the matter is that the report was classified by the Minister." Furthermore, as head of the Task Team, Minister Nxesi is empowered to re-grade the classification in terms of the Minimum Information Security Standards. To claim that he cannot do so is simply not true.

It must also be questioned why the Minister continues to withhold the report from the portfolio committee in Parliament and the Auditor General, as noted in the correspondence to the Speaker, on the basis of the report being classified in terms of MISS, when it is not legally binding. 

Lastly, to date the Minister has failed to explain why his reply to a DA parliamentary question, in which he includes the Protection of Information Act of 1982 as one of the ways the report was classified, differs from the correspondence to the Speaker.

It is clear that Minister Nxesi is doing everything possible to protect President Zuma from being held accountable for his role in this major corruption scandal. This cannot go unanswered, especially when it brings the integrity of Parliament into disrepute.

An investigation must now follow into the Minister's conduct so that there can be consequences for these actions.

Statement issued by Anchen Dreyer MP, DA Shadow Minister of Public Works, July 7 2013

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