The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests met today on the 17 September 2014 and adopted the 2014 Register of Financial Interests for Members of Parliament (MPs).
The Registrar reported that all disclosures of Members have been submitted with the exception of Hon Hlakudi Frans Nkoana who is currently on sick leave. The Committee condoned Hon Nkoana’s non-submission as he is ill. A medical certificate has been provided to this effect. The Member will be required to submit his form within 15 days of his return to office.
The 2014 Register of Members’ Interests is available at the Office of the Registrar at V124 Old Assembly Building in Parliament.
At its first meeting on 8 July 2014, the Committee undertook to extend the deadline for discloser and declaration of MPs financial interests from 27 July to 15 August 2014.
Following the outlining of the disclosure process, Hon Anchen Dreyer, a Democratic Alliance Member of the Committee, wrote a general complaint letter addressed to Co-Chairperson Hon Amos Masondo. Subsequently, this matter was tabled at today’s Committee meeting.
Simply put, Hon Dreyer alleged that certain Members of the Executive:
- Undertook other paid work.
- Exposed themselves to situations involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their private interests.
- Used their positions or information entrusted to them to enrich themselves or improperly benefited other persons.
- Acted in a way that may compromise their credibility or integrity of their office or of the government.
The meeting advised that the Rules require that a complaint should be specific, and related to the conduct of a particular MP. It further said that MPs should stick to procedure when raising matters requiring investigation by the Committee. Given what has transpired at the meeting today, issues raised by Hon Dreyer will not be pursued any further.
The Code was adopted on 26 March 2014 in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and on 29 July 2014 in the National Assembly. The implementation date for the Code is scheduled for 1 November 2014.
The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests was further mandated to examine and effect minor changes required on the Code. The Committee will ensure that this is done before the end of this year.
Training and education on the new Code will be provided for all MPs. This remains an important part of the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests programme.
The Committee will soon be meeting MPs from Mozambique to exchange ideas and share experiences. A similar engagement is expected to take place with the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as well as with the City of Johannesburg. These meetings will be on-going with similar stakeholders.
Public engagement on the new Code will also be prioritised to strengthen public participation and ensure societal buy-in.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Co-Chairpersons, please contact:
Temba Gubula, Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8307
Cell: 078 735 8809
E-mail: tgubula@parliament.gov.za
