Johannesburg - Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has ratcheted up her probe into state capture, piling pressure on members of the cabinet to make financial disclosures about their dealings with business associates.
But her attempts to check on the financial interests of ministers may yield little if the declaration of interests by members of the cabinet in Parliament last year is anything to go by.
Their declarations disclosed nothing that linked them to the wealthy business family headed by Ajay and Atul Gupta.
In her subpoena to the cabinet, Madonsela is looking at financial declarations made by ministers between November last year and April.
This is the time when allegations of state capture came to light.
Ministers and MPs are expected to table their 2016 financial interests in Parliament in the next four weeks.
The ethics committee, now chaired by former Gauteng Speaker Lindiwe Maseko, is to determine the date for the publication of the Register of Members’ Interests for this year. Maseko replaces Amos Masondo as the chairman of the ethics committee.
Parliament revealed her appointment to the ethics committee on Saturday.
Last year, interests declared by ministers included shares in major companies like Vodacom, Sasol, Sanlam and interests in a range of economic sectors.
However, there was nothing that related to any controversial or business dealings with companies linked to the Gupta family.
This included the gifts declared by the ministers.
They listed small items like mugs, stationery, bottles of wine and books which they said they had received from diplomats, ministers and MPs from other countries.
In the past, Parliament has found some MPs guilty of failing to disclose their full financial interests.
Opposition parties have failed on numerous occasions to get President Jacob Zuma to explain how he appoints his cabinet or fires his ministers.
The pressure to provide an explanation was heightened after allegations of state capture emerged late last year.
But Zuma has stuck to the script that the president is allowed by the law to appoint ministers or fire them at his discretion.
These are the powers he derives from the constitution.
He says he is not obliged to give reasons for the choices he makes in appointing cabinet ministers.
The probe into state capture will be Madonsela’s last major investigation into corruption in the state, after she pulled the rug from under Zuma’s feet with the Nkandla judgment.
The Constitutional Court affirmed her powers, saying her findings were binding.
This followed a protracted dispute between Madonsela and the ANC in Parliament on the scope of her powers.
However, the decision from the highest court in the land settled for once and for all the dispute about whether the public protector’s recommendations were binding.
Sunday Independent