Lawyers for businessperson Hugh Glenister are preparing court papers to be served on hundreds of MPs in one of his efforts to save the Scorpions from being disbanded.
On Tuesday, Glenister told the Cape Town Press Club his lawyers wanted to block MPs who had been implicated in the Travelgate scandal from participating in the parliamentary processing of the two bills that would ultimately disband the Scorpions.
Glenister will request the consent of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to serve the papers on the MPs - who Glenister said numbered more than 200.
This follows the businessperson receiving a letter from Mbete's office informing him that, in the Speaker's view, there was nothing precluding any MPs from participating in the process.
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"I have, however, been informed that there are in any case no members facing prosecution by the Scorpions currently participating in the process," Mbete said.
MPs had a constitutional responsibility - as public representatives - to debate, discuss and report on bills in parliament, Mbete said.
The two bills in question are the SA Police Service Amendment Bill and the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill.
Glenister's attorney sent a letter to Mbete requesting that MPs who have been investigated by the Scorpions recuse themselves from parliamentary proceedings to consider the two bills.
The businessperson was again backed by opposition parties, which argued that there would be a conflict of interest by having the implicated MPs participating in the process.
"Apart from common law considerations relating to the avoidance of conflicts of interest, the parliamentary code of conduct for assembly and permanent council members demands that all members must declare any personal or private financial or business interest that such member (or any spouse, permanent companion or business partner of such member) may have in a matter before any parliamentary forum of which such member is a member, and must thereafter withdraw from the proceedings of that forum when the matter is considered (unless that forum decides that the member's interest is trivial or not relevant)," wrote Glenister's lawyer, Kevin Louis.
On Tuesday, Glenister even suggested that South Africans should consider not paying their taxes to force the government to listen.
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This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on August 27, 2008
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