/ 3 October 2008

Why Mbete?

What qualifies Baleka Mbete for her new job as deputy president? Her record as National Assembly speaker suggests she can get things done, but also that she often puts her political progress before principle.

For critics, nothing illustrates this more clearly than last week’s announcement that Parliament has quietly moved to drop its claims in the Travelgate affair, effectively letting off the hook 106 MPs facing court cases.

Her backers counter that she has pushed hard for more resources for committees, a revised oversight model for Parliament and new legislation to govern its financial affairs.

Mbete took over as speaker from Frene Ginwala, dropped by former president Thabo Mbeki after the April 2004 elections. It was a pivotal time in the institution’s life.

Many star MPs of the 1990s — such as Pravin Gordhan, Cyril Ramaphosa and Blade Nzimande, who drove the first burst of democratic law-making — had left for civil service, ministerial and business jobs. Senior ANC and opposition MPs were increasingly disillusioned about Parliament’s capacity to function independently of government, and the scope afforded members to stray from the party line.

Parliament’s credibility was under attack on at least three fronts: the dramatic retreat of the public accounts committee, Scopa, from its initial tough line on the arms deal; floor-crossing, which had eroded voters’ trust; and initial evidence from the Travelgate probe suggesting MPs connived with travel agents to defraud the fiscus of millions.

Backroom advisers say Mbete was determined not to repeat the tactical errors which made Parliament a cul-de-sac, rather than a stepping stone, for Ginwala. Principal among these was the latter’s insistence on handling Travelgate robustly, though she was also damaged by her perceived cooperation in fraud charges against popular chief whip Tony Yengeni.

With the then parliamentary secretary, Sindiso Mfenyana, she appeared determined to recover money owed to Parliament by the Travelgate fraudsters and see them prosecuted.

When Mbete took over as speaker, and a new secretary, Zingile Dingani, was appointed Parliament’s administrative head, the appetite for tough action quickly waned.

Dingani was central to obstructing the liquidation of Bathong, the travel agency with which most ANC MPs made bookings and where the most potential for serious embarrassment lay. He made it very difficult for Parliament’s finance management office to dig for evidence and slowed down the process so that Bathong’s books were destroyed by the time liquidators got in the door.

Although Mbete had, as deputy speaker, backed strong action on Travelgate, by 2006 the ANC’s political committee in Parliament, which she chaired, clearly supported the damage limitation exercise, driving an unpopular strategy to get the relatively junior MPs already charged by the Scorpions to accept plea bargains while more senior colleagues got off with an acknowledgement of debt, or scot-free.

Then ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe was the blunt instrument assigned to implement this strategy and the animosity he earned helped ensure that angry colleagues publicised the sexual harassment allegations against him were finally made public, ending his political career.

This year has seen Mbete more directly involved in efforts to shut down the liquidation, which, in the absence of further charges, is the only remaining mechanism of accountability.

She attended a meeting with liquidators PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAB&T which resulted in them, seemingly illegally, agreeing to drop all outstanding claims against MPs, with Parliament offering to cover legal costs. A high court application by other creditors halted this.

It was a hugely embarrassing debacle and Mbete took part in the resulting decision to replace law firm Hofmeyrs with Edward Nathan Sonnenberg in an apparent effort to make the move stick.

That now seems likely. During the upheaval surrounding Thabo Mbeki’s resignation last week, Parliament slipped out an announcement that it was rescinding its claims in the Bathong liquidation.

The liquidators have three opinions from senior counsel contradicting the legal rationale, but it will probably not be tested in court. Parliament is leaving R4-million and a large legal bill on the table, while the remaining creditors, SAA and Avis, are unlikely to pursue much smaller claims.

MPs who repaid the money or have criminal records are angry, but Mbete’s nimble footwork has carried her through a political minefield. The main cost has been to the reputation of Parliament.

The same could be said of her public support of Yengeni, convicted of misleading the institution she heads, and her refusal to do anything substantial about the corrupt awarding of Parliament’s security contract to party cronies at Africa Strategic Asset Protection.

Mbete knows exactly where the lines between her party and institutional roles are drawn and is very good at dancing between them. She will be under closer scrutiny now.