CAPE TOWN - Standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa is among the quartet of errant MPs that will be reprimanded in Parliament for late filing of their disclosure of financial interests.
This comes after the joint ethics and members’ interest committee tabled a report announcing sanctions to the MPs from the IFP, ANC and EFF.
Committee co-chairpersons Bekizwe Simon Nkosi and Moji Lydia Moshodi said the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of member’s interests required parliamentarians to disclose their registrable interests annually by November 30.
“If a member has no registrable interests, a ‘nil’ return must be submitted,” they said.
Nkosi and Moshodi said an MP breached the code if they contravened or failed to comply with the requirements of the provisions for disclosing interests.
“Of the 454 members who are required to submit their disclosures, four members failed and/or neglected to submit their disclosures by the due date,” they said.
The report said Hlengwa submitted his disclosure of interests form on December 9.
When a letter was sent to him in March this year, Hlengwa blamed administrative error by staff assigned to attend to his parliamentary administrative function.
“He does state that this does not absolve him from responsibility in ensuring that his disclosure is submitted,” Nkosi and Moshodi said in the report.
“The member apologises for his late disclosure. He indicates that he respects the work of the committee in its administration of the code and again apologised for the late disclosure,” reads the report.
When Hlengwa was asked to make written representations on the sanction to be imposed, he requested a salary reduction not exceeding 30 days.
His colleague Mzamo Buthelezi was found to have submitted his disclosure of interests form on December 2.
A letter was addressed to Buthelezi on March 18 and he had claimed that he had submitted his forms on time.
“It was then brought to his attention that his form was incomplete. Once it was brought to his attention that his forms were incomplete he duly completed the forms and submitted it,” reads the report.
Buthelezi apologised and pleaded “honest omission” from his side and asked his late submission to be viewed as an “honest mistake”.
Nkosi and Moshodi said when Buthelezi was asked to provide written representations on the sanction to be imposed, he expressed that his late disclosure was not meant as disrespect.
“He also stated that he was honest in his submission and requests that the committee consider a reprimand in the House as opposed to a harsher sanction,” reads the report by Nkosi and Moshodi.
ANC MP Ponani Makhubele submitted her disclosure of interests form on December 7.
When Makhubele was sent a letter in March this year, she claimed the forms were emailed to an email address she no longer used and that the email was directed to a spam folder.
“When she discovered the email in her spam folder she asked the office to email it to her closer to the deadline. When she received the email she completed the forms and emailed it, but there was a delay in the transmission of the email on her side.”
When asked to provide written representations on the sanction to be imposed, Makhubele tendered her heartfelt apology and requested that the committee consider that she was a first-time offender.
EFF’s Brenda Mathevula was found to have submitted her disclosure of interests form on December 1.
She had claimed that forms were emailed to her in PDF format but was told she should submit in the proper format.
“The member then submitted again but the email didn’t go through because of the power failure in the area. The office records show that the first email with the PDF document is dated 1 December 2021, after the deadline,” reads the report.
Mathevula did not provide any representations on the sanction to be imposed when asked to do so in March.
Cape Times