Cape Town - The Standing Committee on Public Accounts says it will go ahead and listen to suspended ANC MP Mervyn Dirks on his request for a probe into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comments despite Dirks being suspended by the ruling party.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the matter was in the purview of Parliament and they will need to look into it.
He said on Friday they had been engaging on it since it was brought to their attention by Dirks last month.
A decision was taken that it should be heard early this year.
However, the ANC announced on Thursday that Dirks has been suspended from the party pending disciplinary action and that his membership of Scopa has been withdrawn.
But Hlengwa said the meeting will go ahead on Tuesday and members of Scopa will deal with it.
He said the suspension of Dirks from the ANC was immaterial because the matter was now in the hands of Parliament.
“The reported suspension of Mr Dirks has no material bearing on the matter at this point because the committee reserves the right to invite or summons any person to appear before it to provide information, evidence, or representation. Furthermore, a withdrawal of the letter if it were to arise does not conclude the matter without due process as a report would still be required of the committee,” said Hlengwa.
“The matter is now a subject of parliamentary process and the committee is seized with it and will take decisions it deems fit, necessary and appropriate. The burden of responsibility that saddles the committee is one of due process to ensure parliamentary oversight and accountability. Notwithstanding the associated politics the committee will, as it currently does, conduct its work with integrity and comply with the rules of Parliament,” said Hlengwa.
He said they have been dealing with the issue since last December when Dirks brought it to their attention.
The Daily News had previously reported that Ramaphosa was addressing an ANC NEC meeting where he spoke about the abuse of public funds during the campaign for the top positions in the party.
An audio clip had been leaked to that effect.
Dirks had asked Scopa to bring Ramaphosa before it to answer these questions.
Hlengwa said he had also briefed political parties this week and found that the matter needed the attention of Scopa.
Political Bureau