DA to push for State Capture Ad-Hoc Committee on Wednesday, 14 June
12 June 2017
The DA is hopeful that multi-party consensus can be reached on Wednesday, 14 June, when our draft resolution on the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on State Capture is discussed during Chief Whips’ Forum.
As detailed in our motion, the committee will be tasked with investigating evidence of “undue influence by certain individuals over the exercise of executive authority in South Africa”.
News reports are detailing, almost daily, how the Guptas have succeeded in capturing President Jacob Zuma and his executive, and how their influence now permeate the Cabinet and key state-owned entities (SOEs).
Indeed, there is already overwhelming evidence that Cabinet ministers and heads of SOEs have abused their positions of privilege by wantonly passing government information on to the Gupta family and their associates to be exploited for self-enrichment.
Offenders include:
Faith Muthambi
Then-Minister of Communications Muthambi forwarded a presidential proclamation detailing her powers to the Guptas and their associates before this proclamation was even signed by the President. She also sent them confidential information on cabinet meetings.
Lynne Brown
Leaked emails show that the Gupta family and their associates had easy access to confidential internal memos sent to the Minister of Public Enterprises in which the Department expresses uneasiness about the Denel and VR Laser Asia joint venture.
Des van Rooyen
Special advisers during Van Rooyen’s three-day tenure as Minister of Finance, Ian Whitley and Mohamed Bobat, sent Treasury documents on to Gupta associates such as Eric Wood and Salim Essa.
Dan Mantsha
The Head of Denel reportedly forwarded confidential emails between Denel and the State Security Agency to the Gupta family and/or associates.
Bruce Koloane
In February 2013, while he was Chief of State Protocol in the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, Koloane sent Ashu Chawla, an associate of the Gupta family, operational information with regards to the Waterkloof Airforce Base for the months of March and April 2013.
Through the actions detailed above, Muthambi, Brown, Van Rooyen, Whitley, Bobat and Mantha may have committed offences in terms of sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Information Act, Act 84 of 1982 (last amended in 2013 by General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act, Act 11 of 2013), whereas Koloane and others may have committed offences in terms of the National Key Points Act, Act 102 of 1980.
These offences are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The DA will proceed to lay criminal charges against these Ministers and officials. We will soon announce the details of the charge laying.
It has become clear that a sweeping investigation into state capture is required and Parliament, empowered by Section 55 of the Constitution to oversee the exercise of executive authority, is best placed to undertake it.
Importantly, the ad hoc committee’s general powers, as detailed in section 167 of the NA Rules, will authorise it to determine its own working arrangements and includes the powers, inter alia, to summon any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation, to produce documents, and to conduct public hearings. The committee is also permitted to meet on any day and at any time, allowing this important work to start immediately and proceed with the necessary urgency.
Our draft resolution can be adopted by a simple majority in the National Assembly and we urge the presiding officers to have it tabled at the soonest possible opportunity. In the interest of South Africa, we urge all parties to support our motion and to work side-by-side, through the ad hoc committee, to investigate and expose those individuals who have sold our country to the highest bidder.
Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 12 June 2017
