OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Saturday
THE African National Congress (ANC) has refused to say why it has not suspended from parliament two MPs who have been fraudulently using their parliamentary travel concessions – including controversial Eastern Cape MP and rugby administrator John Ncinane, who is said to be “untouchable”.
Ncinane, who this week received a public tongue-lashing in the National Assembly from speaker Frene Ginwala for abusing his travel vouchers, has strong grass roots support in the Eastern Cape.
His critics say this would explain why he remained an MP despite the fact that a newspaper exposed him as having illegally tapped electricity from a clinic to a holiday home he was renting in Hamburg in January last year.
Ncinane also made headlines last year ahead of the June elections when he claimed that if Jesus Christ returned to earth he would be ruled by the ANC. He was forced to apologise after an outcry from Christians, including the African Christian Democratic Party.
He has also been involved in a racism row over the appointment of a new president for the Western Province Rugby Union.
A second ANC MP, Free State ANC MP Khatliso Moeketse, a former youth league chair in the province, escaped a public reprimand because he was off sick. Moeketse reportedly admitted to a Sunday newspaper that he was selling his air tickets to friends and their spouses.
Ginwala will probably reprimand him on November 20 when MPs return to dispose of the Municipal Structures Second Amendment Bill.
ANC national spokesman Smuts Ngonyama is on record as saying both men will be disciplined by the party. The matter has also been referred to the director of public prosecutions for further action.