The African National Congress (ANC) National Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe says he doesn’t see a reason why there should be a portfolio committee responsible for the Presidency, just because there are such committees for other government departments.
He says the President is always available to answer questions in parliament.
Mantashe was back before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to continue his evidence, which was postponed during his last appearance last week. He was giving evidence on the issue of oversight in parliament.
Mantashe has told the State Capture Commission that in 2013, the Integrity Commission of the ANC looked at the possibility of asking former President Jacob Zuma to step down.
He says under the chairpersonship of the late Andrew Mlangeni, the commission eventually recommended in 2016 that Zuma must step down as the president of the country.
Mantashe says Zuma was called in by the ANC Integrity Commission, where the recommendation of stepping down was communicated to him.
“A recommendation was made and former President was invited in December 2016 under the chairpersonship of Mr Mlangeni. And it says each member of the commission, in turn, outlined the reasons. Because this call for him to step down came back from 2013, but only in 2016 did they call him in a physical meeting.”
‘Regrettable’
Earlier in the day, Speaker of Parliament Thandi Modise said it is regrettable that parliament had acted late on allegations of state capture. But Modise told the Commission that the blame lies with the National Assembly House Chairperson of Committees, Cedrick Frolick.
She told Deputy Chief Justice that Frolick, to whom she delegated powers to deal with Committee Chairs, had the responsibility to follow up with the chairpersons whose committees had been identified as being relevant to the phenomenon of State Capture.
Modise, along with National Council of Provinces chairperson, Amos Masondo, gave joint submissions to the state capture commission of inquiry.
In his testimony to the commission earlier this year, Frolick testified that he had believed it would have been improper for parliament to do a parallel investigation to that being undertaken by the public protector 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 directly 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 further added that the Constitutional Court judgement on Nkandla had the effect of improving the oversight work conducted by parliament.
In March 2016, the Constitutional Court made a ruling that parliament was in breach of its constitutional mandate by not acting on the then Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela’s report on the non-security upgrades at former President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home.
The Speaker at the time was of the view that the Public Protector’s recommendations were not binding.
‘Break-in’
Earlier, Deputy Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo said the commission will not be intimidated and deterred into doing their job.
This follows a break-in that occurred at the Commission’s offices where several pieces of equipment were stolen.
State Capture Inquiry, 19 April 2021:
