Former National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has told the State Capture Commission that she was not partisan despite being African National Congress (ANC) chairperson at the same time.
Mbete was the presiding officer of the House and the ANC chairperson during Jacob Zuma administration between 2012 and 2018.
She had to preside over a motion of no confidence against former President Zuma in August 2017.
Testifying on Tuesday night, on the Parliamentary oversight during the Zuma administration, Mbete said one needed to be impartial at all times.
“When you are presiding over the House you see individual Members of the Parliament and that is what determines what you see at that moment because you have taken an oath. Remember that [the] oath is to your role as a impartial person, you can’t play the role of an impartial arbiter if you are seeing parties. You must see ordinary individual Members of Parliament who have rights in the House and yes your neck can be chopped and that possibility is always there,” explains Mbete.
Former Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete at Zondo Commission:
‘Parliament didn’t ignore corruption allegations’
Meanwhile, Mbete says it is not true that the fifth Parliament did nothing to investigate allegations of widespread corruption between 2014 and 2017.
Mbete says they did everything in their power through portfolio committees to find out what was happening.
“We did what is contained in this submission, whether it was by way of questions to the President, questions to specific ministers, that’s apart from portfolio committees and that’s apart from the motion of no confidence.”
“So, it is simply untrue to say the fifth Parliament sat through massive amounts of corruption and did totally nothing. It is not true. What did happen might be inadequate and yes I dare say actually, it was inadequate because the resources are not adequate.”
She has decried the current political culture which she says gives unfettered powers to the Executive.
Mbete says currently the President is both the Head of State and the Executive.
The former National Assembly Speaker says Parliament and the Judiciary are not treated equally with the executive making it difficult for the two arms of the state to execute their constitutional obligation.
Baleka Mbete gives her testimony at State Capture:
