DA to lay Ethics complaint against Minister Gwede Mantashe following alleged bribery admission

28 October 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has requested an investigation by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests on the conduct relating to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe. According to recent media reports Minister Mantashe acknowledged to the Sunday World newspaper that he paid two of its journalists R70 000 to make a story about his personal life “disappear”. With regards to allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship involving the Minister, he was quoted in the 27 October 2019 edition as follows:

Two journalists from your publication called me for the same story. So, you are the third person to call me for the same story, do you also want money? I paid them and now you are calling about the same story. Every time I asked them when they will publish the story, they told me the evidence is destroyed. I begged them not to write the story, I paid two journalists at your publication. I will not reveal their names, you can ask amongst your colleagues and ask Lerato to tell you their names. You can go ahead and write the story, that is my comment.

The Minister has essentially admitted to bribing two journalists, and it is clearly an admission of guilt for which he needs to be held accountable.

His comments are in violation of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members' Interests of Parliament. Section 10.1.1.3 states that a Member is in breach of the Code if he or she, amongst other clauses, contravenes section 4.1 of the Code. This section states that members must “by virtue of the oath or affirmation of allegiance taken by all elected Members, uphold the law; act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed in them; [and] maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity of Parliament and thereby engender the respect and confidence that society needs to have in Parliament as a representative institution”.

As Members of Parliament, Ministers must be held to a high standard and must provide ethical leadership to the people they serve. By admitting to paying off two journalists, the Minister did not act “in accordance with the public trust placed in [him]”, nor did he “maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity of Parliament”. If one is ethically comfortable with giving a bribe, it begs to question whether the same individual would find it ethically permissible to accept a bribe? This becomes worrying when it becomes evident that the individual at the cornerstone of such claims is in charge of South Africa’s nuclear plans, mineral resources and energy.

Furthermore, both the Minister and the implicated journalists may have contravened Section 3 of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, which states that a general offense of corruption is defined by:

“(3) Any person who directly or indirectly - … (b) gives or agrees or offers to give to any other person any gratification, whether for the benefit of that other person or for the benefit of another person, in order to act, personally or by influencing another person to act, in a manner – (i) that amounts to the – (aa) illegal, dishonest, unauthorized, incomplete, or biased; (bb) … exercise, carrying out or performance of any powers … (ii) that amounts to – (aa) the abuse of a position of authority; …or (cc) the violation of a legal duty or a set of rules, (iii) designed to achieve an unjustified result; or (iv) that amounts to any other unauthorized or improper inducement to do or not do anything, is guilty of the offense of corruption.”

The DA welcomes the Sunday World’s investigation into this matter and trust that they will hold the implicated journalists to account and that strong action is taken against them. Equally, we hope that Parliament’s Ethics Committee will investigate the case against Minister Mantashe with the urgency and gravity it deserves.

Brown envelope journalism should be frowned upon and those who indulge in such transactions must be held accountable for their actions. It is unacceptable for a member of Cabinet to bribe the media, or individual journalists, regardless of the story or occasion. South Africans deserve a free and fair media, which provides unbiased content free from bribes and corruption.

Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, 28 October 2019