/ 5 February 2010

Cope takes Nyanda to Public Protector

New Public Protector Thulisile Madonsela will receive her first major complaint since taking office last October when the Congress of the People (Cope) asks her to probe Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda’s private business interests.

Cope MP Juli Kilian, the party’s representative on Parliament’s communications committee, said Cope would complain to Madonsela after the Mail & Guardian revealed Nyanda’s million-rand contracts with government last week. (Nyanda rolling in tenders).

Nyanda owns a 50% stake in GNS Risk Advisory Services, which has lucrative contracts with Transnet, Metrorail, Autopax and the Gauteng government.

GNS’s contract with Transnet Freight Rail ended last week, but Metrorail is still paying the company for investigations and surveillance on passenger trains.

It’s unclear how much and when Gauteng paid GNS to provide protection services for the Gauteng government garage and construction equipment agency, Impophoma.

Said Kilian: “Cope believes Nyanda is in breach of the [Executive Members’ Ethics] Act in respect of circumstances and elements surrounding contracts between his GNS and Transnet Freight Rail, and other government departments.

“His declaration to Parliament and his excuses that he is no longer participating in the day-to-day running of the company is naive, to say the least.”

The Executive Members’ Ethics Act governs the business interests of ministers and MECs and prohibits members of the executive from undertaking paid work outside their government positions.

Cope believes Nyanda has also breached section 96 of the Constitution. This bans ministers from exposing themselves “to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and private interests”.

Nyanda’s office said earlier that he had declared his interest in GNS to Parliament and “has not been active in the affairs of the entity in question since his appointment to public office”.

But Kilian said: “The realities of political power-mongering and high-level influence wielded by ­individuals ‘close to the fire’, such as General Nyanda, indicate otherwise.

“The fact of the matter is that he remains a direct financial beneficiary of profits derived from the ­contracts between his personal interests and government departments and parastatals.”

Nyanda was defence force chief between 1998 and 2005 and became a minister in May last year.

Kilian said it was unfortunate that the ANC majority in Parliament “would stifle open investigations into these alleged serious constitutional transgressions, which compels Cope to approach the Public Protector”.

A complaint in terms of the Public Protector Act was being prepared and would be submitted “probably next week”.