Home

Modise apologises to SA for not acting on allegations of state capture in time

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Speaker of Parliament, Thandi Modise, says it is regrettable that parliament had acted late on allegations of state capture. But Modise says the blame lies with the National Assembly House Chairperson of Committees, Cedrick Frolick.

“As I say it is regrettable that, in fact, the impression is that parliament woke up when things were bad. And for that, we must apologise to the South African public.”

Speaker Thandi Modise testifies:

When the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, took the stand, she answered questions as to why Parliament only embarked on an investigation into state capture in 2017 despite media reports on the phenomenon from 2013. She laid the blame on House Chair, Cedric Frolick.

Modise said it was his responsibility to ensure that committees identified to undertake a probe, did so. However. in his testimony to the Commission earlier this year, Frolick said he had believed it would have been improper for parliament to have a parallel investigation to that being undertaken by the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela at the time.

“The House chair would be best placed after his interaction in this case with the speaker to take action even though the chairpersons are a structure that falls under the speaker I don’t interact directly with them there is an intermediary called Mr Frolick so when I go direct into a committee it means there is an issue that needs to be resolved which he may say I have not been able to resolve I have an issue here and there.”

Modise discussed the challenges facing parliament in trying to hold the executive to account. However, she says there has been an improvement in parliament’s performance since the March 2016 Constitutional Court judgement on Nkandla.

The Court made a damning ruling that parliament was in breach of its constitutional mandate by not acting on the Public Protector’s report on the non-security upgrades at former President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home.

The Speaker at the time Baleka Mbete was of the view that the Pubic Protector’s recommendations were not binding.

“That decision of the court has actually empowered parliament to begin to do things properly to respect the space of the chapter nine institutions to respect the courts but also to insist that it understands its mandate better and must execute,” Modise explained.

Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Amos Masondo, also gave brief evidence following that of Modise, in which he said that a concerted effort needs to be made to do away with all forms of corruption in the country. The two presiding officers had prepared a joint statement for the Commission.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise testifies before Commission:

 

Thandi Modise and Amos Masondo give evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture:

Author

MOST READ