ANC must not be allowed to mothball Botha report

It appears that the ANC in Parliament is attempting to mothball the damning recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests regarding the conduct of ANC MP Yolanda Botha.

In September, Botha was found by the committee to have failed to disclose her business interests, and to have wilfully misled Parliament concerning kickbacks she received from a business venture.

The committee recommended that the National Assembly impose the maximum fine of 30 days' salary. It also recommended that the matter be referred to the South African Police Service, the Special Investigative Unit and the South African Revenue Service, for further action.

However, the report was this week referred back to the Ethics Committee, under what appear to be false pretences, on the basis of concerns that were raised about its recommendations.

These concerns seem to be without substance, given that there is a precedent for the sanctions proposed by the Committee. In August 2002, the committee recommended that similar action be taken against Winnie Madikizela Mandela for breaches of the parliamentary code of conduct.

Serious questions must be asked about the real reasons that this report has been referred back to the committee.

This is particularly so because all parliamentary business must be wrapped up by the time parliament rises at the end of November, after which it is struck from the order paper. This means that if the Botha matter is not resolved by the Ethics Committee in the few weeks before the end of this parliamentary year, the committee's report will effectively fall away. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) stands by the contents of the Ethics Committee's original report. Yolanda Botha was found to have "lied under oath, submitted false and misleading evidence and showed no sign of remorse." She must be held accountable for these serious transgressions. These are not the actions of someone who respects their responsibilities as an elected representative of the South African people. 

When the Ethics Committee meets again next week, the DA will insist that the findings and recommendations of the committee, which were initially adopted unanimously, are reconfirmed and that the report be tabled again for finalisation in Parliament as soon as possible.

Statement issued by Anchen Dreyer MP, DA Spokesperson on the Public Accounts Committee, November 11 2011

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