The Congress of the People (COPE) has described the decision taken by Parliament to clear former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize of any wrongdoing as “disgusting”.
on Tuesday, the Joint Standing Committee on Ethics and Member’s Interests announced its decision that it has found Mkhize not guilty of having flouted the ethics code of conduct by members of Parliament as alleged by the Democratic Alliance.
COPE’s National Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says the committee needs to review its decision urgently.
“This finding of the Ethics Committee in Parliament clearing Dr Zweli Mkhize is disgusting. It is very clear that the ANC ( African National Congress) government is not serious on rooting out corruption. This reminds us of the Nkandla scandal where the ANC majority in parliament cleared former President Jacob Zuma of any wrongdoing. The courts had to intervene to show that parliament was wrong in their decision on Nkandla,” Bloem explains.
VIDEO: Parliament clears former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize of contravening ethics: Prof Dirk Kotze
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament says it is disappointed by the outcomes of the Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Ethics and Member’s Interests which has cleared former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize of flouting the code of ethics for Members of Parliament.
The saga stems from the report of the Special Investigating Unit in relation to the multi-million rand tender awarded to Digital Vibes for the National Health Insurance awareness campaign and COVID-19 communications. DA MP Siviwe Gwarube who had initiated the complaint against Mkhize says the conclusion arrived at by the committee fails to understand the letter and the spirit of the ethics code.
“Our view is that this application of the code is so narrow that it misses the spirit of the spirit of the ethics code and what the ethics code seeks to do. Ultimately if we are going to have ethics code-it’s very important that it is applied broadly and as generous as possible so that it can really prevent what it seeks to prevent,” says Gwarube.
