The internal battles within the Western Cape Legislature continue to fester after the ANC in the province accused its DA counterparts of “capturing the conduct and appeals committee”.
“It is clear to us as the ANC caucus that the code of conduct committee in the legislature, as well as the appeals committee, have been captured by the DA,” said the ANC’s Cameron Dugmore in a statement this week, adding that the code of conduct committee last sat on June 29, “over four months ago.”
The party is aggrieved by the fact that there is a pending case against the deputy speaker, Beverley Schäfer.
Schäfer, as previously reported, was hauled before the legislature’s conduct committee to probe complaints that she refused to downgrade her luxury state-funded BMW after her six-month stint as MEC for Economic Opportunities ended.
As MEC, Schäfer received an annual salary of nearly R2 million. This meant that her vehicle, a BMW SUV, may have cost R800 000. As the deputy speaker, she earns R1.6m per annum, meaning that she should have a vehicle of R640 000.
Speaker Masizole Mnqasela was also being probed by the committee for allegedly hiring an external law firm to look into the conduct of Schäfer instead of using the legislature’s internal legal team.
Mnqasela, whose party activities got suspended recently, was also investigated for discrepancies in the declaration of his interest in a family trust, something the committee found him guilty of. He took the decision on appeal, hence the appeals committee was formed.
“The appeals committee still has to hear the appeal of the speaker against a finding of the conduct committee. The fact that these committees have not been convened indicates clear manipulation by the DA and a refusal to finalise complaints against senior members of the DA in the legislature,” Dugmore said in his statement.
However, when contacted for comment, Dugmore said he would not be able to comment further on the matter, given that he had been appointed to serve on the appeals committee that would hear Mnqasela’s appeal.
The DA’s chairperson in the Western Cape, Jaco Londt referred all queries to the conduct committee’s chairperson, Wendy Philander.
Philander said she had noted a statement by the ANC which makes “deliberate misleading claims” regarding the provincial parliament’s code of conduct and the appeals committee.
“The ANC’s claims of the DA capturing these committees are entirely devoid of all truth.
“In a cheap exercise of political grandstanding, the ANC has been caught in a lie ... If the ANC was as concerned with their parliamentary work, as they are with bungling their internal elections, they would know these basic facts.
“We will not stand for the code of conduct and appeals committees to be used as an electioneering tool. These are multi-party committees that operate without fear or favour, and this attack on their integrity cannot go unchallenged,” she said.
Last month reports emerged that the DA in the province was mulling putting forward a motion of no confidence against Mnqasela.
Dugmore also wrote to speaker Mnqasela to convene a meeting with opposition parties in the chamber to discuss the need for an urgent conclusion to the code of conduct investigations into Schäfer.
“As leader of the opposition in the legislature, I am requesting that your office convene an urgent meeting of the above forum,” read the letter.
“We have a major concern that the code of conduct committee has not met for over almost four months and while an appeals committee has been established, it has never been convened.
“This situation means that the operations of the legislature are being negatively affected and that the Code of Conduct itself is being undermined,” he wrote.
Weekend Argus.