Parliament would undermine its own integrity if it failed to pursue the MPs who owed money in the Travelgate saga, the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) said on Tuesday.
PSAM, a watchdog NGO, was reacting to a recent announcement that creditors of one of the travel agencies linked to the affair were to be asked to stop all civil action against the MPs involved.
Parliament had earlier maintained it hoped to recover about R6-million through insolvency proceedings involving agencies.
PSAM said it was dismayed by Parliament’s decision to ”condone the fraudulent actions of parliamentarians implicated in the Travelgate saga by dropping the recovery of money paid out unlawfully to them”.
”Effectively, implicated parliamentarians are being licensed to reap the rewards of their criminal behaviour — stealing money from the public,” it said.
Zingile Dingane, the Secretary to Parliament, had argued that it was not in Parliament’s interest to pursue weak claims. However according to Parliament’s last annual report, liquidators had made definite progress in recovering money.
By the end of May last year, liquidators had recovered R2,6-million out of a recoverable R6,7-million.
The PSAM said that contrary to to Dingane’s argument, ”the recovery process appears to have made both legal and commercial sense”.
”The completion of the process would serve to partly rectify the compromised position of Parliament brought about by the fraudulent actions of MPs.”
Dingane’s argument that it was not legally or commercially viable to recover the money missed the point, since the issue was not one of debt recovery.
”The decision to condone the fraudulent actions of parliamentarians places their narrow interests above the integrity of the institution and in effect, aids and abets the erosion of democracy in South Africa.”
Parliament should reverse its decision not to chase up the money.
”Unless it does so, Parliament itself must be held responsible for subverting both the integrity of Parliament and constitutional democracy in South Africa.” – Sapa