How to shut down a corruption investigation - COPE
In recent weeks I have been part of a task team investigating the purchase of Mercedes Benz ML320 by the Northern Cape Legislature for the ANC Provincial Secretary, Zamani Saul. Saul is not a member of the legislature.
So far the team has, with the help of the Auditor General, discovered that the purchase of the car was irregular expenditure by the legislature. In short, the institution broke public finance law by buying a R590 000 vehicle without going to tender. The ANC's caucus fund was used to buy the vehicle, which is against the Financial Assistance to Political Parties policy. By wilfully, or through gross negligence, permitting irregular expenditure, officials of the legislature committed a criminal offence and are liable for disciplinary action and possible jail time.
All that remained was to establish how this vehicle, bought with taxpayer's money, came to be owned by the ANC Provincial Secretary. The car was bought and registered in Saul's name in November 2010. Saul's signature is on the registration documents and a copy of his identity document was submitted to the traffic department. He was identified as the owner in the traffic department's records.
When the story first broke in March, Saul claimed he had known all along that the car was registered in his name (DFA, 14 March). Then, two days later, he said he was shocked that the car was registered in his name and that his signature was forged (DFA, 16 March). Months later, he now claims it was "a proxy signature" and that there was no forgery (DFA, 11 July). The city manager, Goolam Akharwaray, blames the dealership, Moto-net in Kimberley. The dealership's owner blames the traffic department. However, the dealership's agents blame Saul, according to an affidavit submitted to the police by a local attorney. Legislature officials claim they never knew that the car was registered in Saul's name. Who's fooling who?
COPE's demands for Saul, Akharwaray and the dealership to testify were met. However, on the day they were meant to appear, the Speaker of the Legislature, Boeboe van Wyk, shut down the investigation. This was not the first attempt by the Speaker and other legislature officials to cover this inconvenience up. For those interested in how to shut down a corruption investigation, here is a quick blow-by-blow guide:
- The Speaker set up a task team under his control, instead of allowing the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) to investigate, as is the norm.
- Task team members were then told to sign a secrecy contract based on the Apartheid Protection of Information Act of 1982. The contract threatens members with jail time if they so much as go public about the existence of an investigation. I never signed it and I'm going public.
- The legislature's legal advisor and ANC officials involved in buying the car were installed as members of the task team. A report by the legal advisor was drawn up clearing everyone of wrongdoing. The task team were asked to accept it as the final report on the matter.
- I rejected the report and called for more key witnesses like Saul and the car dealership people to testfiy. On the day this was due to happen, the Speaker effectively shut down the task team. He told us that no further witnesses would be called, and that we had one more day to finalize our report. If anyone objected, he would simply go to the ANC-dominated parliament to get a house resolution to shut down an investigation into the party's own abuses.
Today the legislature's rules committee will meet. The Speaker will table his proposal to shut down the task team. The next step is a house resolution. We are warning the Speaker that he is now entering very dangerous territory in his quest to cover this scandal up. Should he continue on this path, he will discover on who's side the law and constitution lies.
Statement issued by Fred Wyngaard, MPL, COPE leader in the Northern Cape legislature, August 3 2011
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