Parliament - The ANC has defended its decision to appoint people who are implicated in state capture to head portfolio committees in Parliament.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and chief whip Pemmy Majodina said there was nothing wrong with the appointment of these members as they had not been found guilty in any court of law.
The ANC on Wednesday announced former public service minister Faith Muthambi as the chairwoman of
the portfolio committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Bongani Bongo was appointed to chair the Home Affairs committee, and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo will chair the tourism committee.
Magashule said no court of law had found them guilty, and that
they had also gone to the ANC’s Integrity Commission, which had cleared them.
He added that even when objections had been raised with the Electoral Commission of South Africa, it found they could not be removed from the list before the elections because they had not been found guilty of any crime.
Majodina agreed with Magashule.
“There was a process where most of them appeared before the Integrity Commission, and were cleared,” she said.
They had been part of a group of 22 members who appeared before the commission a few weeks ago, she added.
This was after Deputy President David Mabuza had refused to be sworn in as an MP until he had cleared his name at the commission.
The commission had flagged him along with several other leaders of the ANC.
But the DA and Cosatu said it was wrong for the ANC to have appointed people with question marks hanging over them.
Magashule said the appointment of the chairs of committees followed consultations with the ANC’s alliance partners.
Magashule also announced that the position of chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) would go to the opposition.
He said they were in discussions with one of the opposition parties to chair Scopa.
Over the last 14 years, the position had been chaired by leader of the African People’s Convention Themba Godi.
However, he did not make it
back to Parliament after the May elections.
The DA in the Western Cape has offered the Scopa position to the ANC. In return the DA said it wanted to chair Scopa in the National Assembly.
However, Magashule would not confirm the party that they were in discussions with over the position.