The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the Northern Cape has labelled Premier Dr Zamani Saul a constitutional delinquent.
The party says the premier lied under oath when questioned in the legislature about an official trip he took to Tanzania last year, accompanied by 10 young people from the African National Congress (ANC).
EFF’s leader in the province, Aubrey Baartman, says the premier used money from provincial municipalities to pay for the trip, and not money from sponsors as the premier had indicated.
Baartman says they will approach the office of the Public Protector to investigate the matter if the legislature’s ethics committee fails to thoroughly address it.
A few months into his term, Northern Cape Premier, Zamani Saul, took a week-long trip to Tanzania and later Zanzibar with several young people from the province.
The trip was said to be for leadership education. Opposition parties have repeatedly questioned the funding of the trip as well as its value. This prompted the premier to say that he sought and got private donors to sponsor the trip.
Video: EFF says the premier used money from provincial municipalities to pay for the trip
The EFF now says it has evidence that the premier misled the legislature. Baartman says the municipality paid for one of the delegates, other municipalities paid for some as well as some of the provincial departments paid for the delegates.
The matter has now been referred to the Northern Cape legislature’s ethics committee.
Ethics Committee Chairperson, Mangaliso Matika, says the allegation by the EFF is a serious one that needs proper investigation. He says they will meet with the EFF and the Premier regarding the matter. “This is serious. Witnesses will be called if necessary and evidence must be submitted.”
Dr. Saul’s office maintains that the trip was funded by generous private sponsors. “The trip was not paid for by government resources, when the invitation initially came we inquired with SOMAFCO thinking that they might be paying for the trips. Premier took the initiative to source funding, so it was paid by a sponsor,” Premier’s Spokesperson Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams.
The EFF says it will watch the ethics committee’s investigation closely and will refer the matter to the Public Protector if they feel the process has been manipulated.
Dealing with corruption
EFF ‘s accusations come a week after the Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) in the Northern Cape accused Saul of failing to deal decisively with corruption. Two departments in the province have been fingered for maladministration and corruption. Saul has been vocal about fighting corruption, but Cosatu says his words don’t match his actions. In the video below Saul promises to hold those who are corrupt accountable:
Authors: Reginald Witbooi and Ulrich Hendriks
