The 23 MPs suspected of participating in the “travel scam” whose identities the Scorpions disclosed to Parliament last week are by no means the only ones implicated. Bigger names may follow.
Sunday Times reports have had it that about 135 MPs, roughly one in four, have been looked at in the course of the investigation. Not all are guilty; many may have been unwitting participants in the schemes of travel agents who abused the flight vouchers to defraud Parliament.
In all, six agencies are alleged to have participated. The 23 names submitted to Parliament so far reportedly relate to investigations into only two of the agencies.
The larger list of 135, the Sunday Times reported earlier, includes the names of bigger fish — among them Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor, Deputy Minister of Social Development Jean Benjamin, Speaker Baleka Mbete, Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu, Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff and Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla.
But the heat is on, and, for starters, 23 MPs need to account.
Craig Morkel, Democratic Alliance
Barely visible as the New National Party’s sports spokesperson until his defection last year, Morkel is now DA spokesperson on youth and children. He has delivered some speeches and asked some parliamentary questions. He sits on the correctional services and minerals and energy committees. He is being questioned for allegedly passing his vouchers to friends and hiring an Audi TT for a week’s spin.
Charles Redcliffe, ex-NNP and DA
Redcliffe, who admitted using vouchers to pay for his son’s Kruger park honeymoon and a cruise with his wife, had little to say in Parliament. He asked questions about skills development and labour laws and wrote a letter to the minister of labour about the registration of domestic workers for unemployment insurance.
Cecil Herandien, NNP
Since his arrival in Parliament in 2002, in the reshuffle sparked by the ANC-NNP pact, he has asked a handful of questions about sport and transport. He left after serving as provincial minister in the Western Cape.
Rodney Rhoda, ex-NNP
Rhoda did not return to Parliament after the April poll. His record last year includes eight questions. In 2002 nine questions on trade and industry matters are recorded, and two on health.
Beauty Nomvuzo Dlulane, ANC, National Council of Provinces
The former Eastern Cape chief whip now serves on Parliament’s public service, land and environment and constitutional review committees. She is reportedly being probed about R200 000 in unauthorised expenditure, including a shindig at a Maputo hotel. Hansard records participation in the agriculture budget, other debates and a handful of draft resolutions.
Buti Joseph Mkhaliphi, ANC, NCOP
Mkhaliphi sits on National Council of Provinces (NCOP) committees on security and constitutional affairs, local government and administration and the joint monitoring committee on the improvement of life and status of children, youth and disabled. In June last year he co-authored a position paper on the role of South African Local Government Association officials in intergovernmental relations.
Gomolelo Archie Lucas, ex-ANC, NCOP
Northern Cape education minister since April, Lucas was a steady tabler of draft resolutions, including ones on increased investor confidence, ANC by-election victories and the All Africa Games. Hansard also records input on Bills establishing the National Youth Commission, preferential procurement policy and financial laws.
Pemmy Majodina, ex-ANC, NCOP
Majodina’s most impassioned declaration, on the 2002 floods in Duncan Village, was: “The floods are counter-revolutionary, taking us and the poorest of the poor back.” She has participated in several budget debates, including those of housing, public works and transport each year. Under her name are also various draft resolutions on road accidents and government’s preferential procurement policy. She previously served as ANC Youth League treasurer.
Sophia Makatse Maine, ANC
A party whip, she serves on the water affairs and forestry committee and has been an MP since 1994. There is no record of parliamentary questions under her name in the past two years, but there are some notices of motion.
Patrick Maloyi, ANC
Now in the National Assembly, Maloyi is a former NCOP delegate who participated in debates on youth, children and the disabled. He supported the defection laws, saying “moving from one party to the other due to ideological differences cannot be regarded as opportunistic”. In 2001 he tabled six draft resolutions, including one slamming controversies around then-Cape Town mayor Peter Marais.
Robert Nogumla, ANC
The former head of the South African Communist Party in Transkei was elected senator in 1994, later becoming an NCOP member before moving to the Eastern Cape legislature. He returned to the NCOP in 2001. His record that year is not impressive.
Barbara Thomson, ANC
Thomson allegedly used vouchers to settle the bill for more than 100 hired cars. The KwaZulu-Natal delegate to the NCOP has a patchy record. She was vocal on the 2001 report on the impact of HIV/Aids, violence and poverty on women and girls.
Mnyamezeli Booi, ANC
Booi is being probed, among other things, in connection with a R79 blue movie he billed to Parliament. The Western Cape-based MP arrived in Parliament in 1994 and has served on the safety and security and defence committees, briefly chairing the latter. Booi does not loom large in Parliament’s official records.
Patrick Chauke, ANC
A party whip, he has sprung to notice since becoming chairperson of the home affairs committee in the last Parliament. Otherwise, his parliamentary record is not impressive.
Jabu Elsie Sosibo, ANC
Last year, Hansard records her asking one parliamentary question on “progress to training and enlisting of constables for the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units” of the police. In 2002, she asked four questions.
Garth Mngomezulu, ANC
In Parliament since 1994, he now also serves as a party whip. His presence in records of parliamentary proceedings is thin.
Danny Olifant, ANC
Olifant allegedly moonlighted as a travel agent and held shares in Eyabantu Travel while receiving money from ITC Travel Services, both of which are being probed. There is no record last year of a parliamentary question in his name, although in 2002 there are notices of motion and supplementary questions to Deputy President Jacob Zuma about Khoisan interests. In November last year the ethics committee has cleared him of having a financial interest in a travel agency implicated in the travel voucher scam.
Randy Pieterse, ANC
The former Western Cape head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) arrived in Parliament in 1999 and serves on the communication and sports committee. He allegedly allowed friends to use his vouchers. Last year he logged two parliamentary questions.
Jonathan Arendse, ANC
His term at Parliament is marked by a handful of notices of motion, including one on an ANC by-election victory in Theewaterskloof. Last year one question was recorded in his name.
Connie September, ANC
The former Cosatu vice-president chairs the water and forestry committee. Over the past five years she served on the trade and industry and public service committees. She regularly addresses the National Assembly on trade and women’s issues, and has spoken on public service budget vote.
Margaret Twala, ex-ANC
After arriving at Parliament in 1999, the ANC Women’s League national executive committee member served on the public works committee. She tabled a handful of motions, including one welcoming an agreement between President Thabo Mbeki and Cuban president Fidel Castro. She did not return in April.
Percylia Mothoagae, ex-ANC
As a member of the public accounts commitee (Scopa), Mothoagae backed party colleague Vincent Smith after his appointment as Scopa chair was slammed by opposition parties. She claimed it was not international practice for public accounts committees to be headed by opposition members.
Bathabile Dlamini, ex-ANC
Dlamini faces allegations of spending R300 000 on unauthorised travel. Now ANC Women’s League secretary general, she spent almost 10 years in Parliament, where she served on the correctional services committee. Dlamini hit the headlines in 2003 when she was accused at the Jali Commission of securing jobs for pals. There is little evidence in Hansard records of her participation in general debates or question time.