MPs with SACP membership should walk the talk and support DA Guptagate motion

6 June 2016

The DA notes the South African Communist Party (SACP) Central Committee’s statement this weekend condemning state capture and announcing the party’s intent to launch a “mass action” campaign against it.

If the SACP are serious about stopping the scourge of sate capture currently crippling SA’s economy and administration, they will support the DA’s motion to establish a parliamentary ad hoc committee to investigate revelations regarding the Gupta family and their illicit influence over the Presidency and Executive. The DA will move to have our motion debated at the start of the third term of Parliament.

The SACP's mass action campaign is sure to fall flat if they are relying on their alliance partners to stand by it. The ANC have previously decried reports of a Public Protector investigation in favour of one by the ANC Secretary General office’s. Yet, last week the Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, confirmed that the investigation had been abandoned because not “enough” witnesses had come forward with written submissions.

This should not have come as a surprise to the SACP given the tripartite alliance’s reluctance to discuss, never mind investigate, previous allegations of impropriety lobbed at the Gupta family. To date a number of Ministries, National Key Points, and even public enterprises such as the Industrial Development Corporation, Denel Dynamics, and Eskom to name a few have been embroiled in allegations of illicit activity with members of the Gupta family.

It is important that an ad hoc committee represented by the various portfolios infiltrated by the Gupta family investigate these allegations and report to Parliament. If any undue influence or improper conduct is found, the committee should recommend swift action against all those who have compromised their oaths of office and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents from reoccurring.

The Gupta family's grip on government business and tender processes has potentially blocked opportunities that should have been accessible to all South Africans, and the DA will not rest until the Guptas – and those who enabled them – are held accountable for it. 

It is time to walk the talk and to ensure that corruption is rooted out from government, and we call on the SACP members of Parliament to support our motion. 

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 6 June 2016