Members of Parliament found guilty of wrongdoing in Parliament’s so-called Travelgate scandal will be fired, the African National Congress said on Monday.
”As soon as the process is concluded, these MPs [who are found guilty] will have to be out of Parliament,” ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said.
”[If] they are found to have acted in a manner that is wrong, they will be replaced.”
In a meeting over the weekend, the party’s national executive committee said the ANC had a central role to play in fighting corruption and the abuse of power.
Twenty-three members of Parliament are due to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on June 8 on charges of fraud relating to the alleged misuse of parliamentary travel vouchers.
”We’ve got to act with firmness against anybody accused of wrongdoing, particularly public officials,” he told reporters.
He said party officials in positions of authority were able to access ”material benefits” which had not been the case in the past.
This new situation presented ”major temptations” and threatened the party’s identity.
”This is a problem, we need to deal with it.”
Public officials should be beyond reproach in their business dealings, he said.
”If you are in public office, you should not engage in anything that will give rise to suspicions that you are building a nest for yourself.”
He said the party’s anti-corruption stance was not undermined by allegations in the Mail & Guardian that it had received R11-million of public money ahead of the 2004 elections. This was allegedly done through state oil company, PetroSA.
”A distinction ought to be made between the ANC and private companies … the story is flawed from that point of view. PetroSA is not the ANC,” said Motlanthe.
He said he had instituted legal proceedings against the newspaper for alleging that he was involved in oil dealings with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
”The only way to clear my name is that we meet in court,” he said, refusing to comment further on the matter.
On unemployment, Motlanthe said the rand/dollar exchange rate was not something the country could control.
”We have absolutely no control over the dollar,” he said.
He suggested the focus should rather be placed on publishing monthly unemployment figures as well as on creating conditions favourable to the growth of the first economy.
”Let us focus the collective brain of the country around job losses,” he said.
”If we are to assist the second economy to the levels in the first, there have to be deliberate interventions made.”
While the Congress of SA Trade Unions was ”very correct” to highlight the problem of job losses, Cosatu’s call for a general strike on June 27 should be a ”weapon of last resort,” he said.
”We will engage them and address what we see as limitations in such an approach.”
Asked if the recent spate of service delivery protests had any link to the upcoming local government elections, Motlanthe said people were crying out to be listened to.
”People protest because that is a way of saying ‘hear us’.”
He said reports that the National Intelligence Agency was investigating the possibility of a ”third force” being responsible for the protests were ”unheard of”.
”We don’t know the basis of such a report. The ANC would never rely on state organs for that. We rely on our own members to tell us why, whether [they protested] out of frustration and desperation.
”Our major worry is what have we done that drives people to such actions?”
Motlanthe would not be drawn on how Tuesday’s ruling in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial would affect Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s future.
”Why don’t we just wait until tomorrow?” he said. – Sapa