Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Phumzile van Damme, says there is enough evidence to warrant criminal charges against former Communications Minister Faith Muthambi.
Van Damme has laid the complaint at the Cape Town Central Police Station against Muthambi for allegedly breaching the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.
Van Damme says the decision to lay the complaint comes after two independent bodies found that Muthambi interfered in the affairs of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
The latest relates to the Joe Thloloe independent inquiry which investigated allegations of editorial interference at the SABC. Van Damme says Muthambi also misled the 2016 Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee Inquiry into the SABC when she gave evidence.
“In this instance it’s a violation of the Powers and Privileges Act about her misleading Parliament, which in terms of the Act if taken to court, could result in a fine or an imprisonment of up to two year. It was the SABC inquiry where she specifically said I never interfered in the SABC. We have two reports that say that she did. There was one by the legal services and now there is this one. So there is enough evidence of two separate independent bodies that found she interfered.”
Meanwhile, Muthambi has described as political opportunism the decision by the DA to lay criminal charges against her.
She hit back against the DA’s action, claiming it is based on a process that was procedurally flawed.
She has called the DA an empty tin that will make noise at the slightest provocation.
