Anger over delayed report
SPEAKER Baleka Mbete is under pressure to table the report of Parliament’s legal services which identified the people who misled the ad hoc committee during its probe into the affairs at the SABC.
The report was handed to her office by the legal services about a month ago.
The ad hoc committee found that, in many instances, the evidence provided by witnesses was contradictory. It recommended that the evidence leader should analyse the testimonies and that Parliament’s legal services should make appropriate recommendations.
The delays in tabling the report have prompted the official opposition to accuse Mbete of refusing to table the report “as its contents no doubt implicate a number of her ANC comrades”.
Last month, the DA filed an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to access the report.
“It is shocking that members of Parliament have to go to such lengths to gain access to reports emanating from their committee work,” DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said.
It was previously reported that Mbete had sought legal advice and that she would first engage with the implicated parties.
Van Damme said Mbete’s duty to Parliament was above her role as chairperson of the ANC.
“Mbete doesn’t have any legal basis for withholding the report and her explanation, offered in the National Assembly programme committee, that the implicated persons were being consulted doesn’t hold water.
“Parliament doesn’t have an obligation to consult with those who lied to it,” Van Damme said.
She said Mbete was obliged to table this report to ensure that Parliament performed its oversight role and that those who lied should face the full consequences of their actions.
“The DA will not allow those who lied before Parliament to escape accountability. We will continue to put pressure on the Speaker to make this report public,” she said.
Cope’s Willie Madisha said it was a pity that the implementation of the ad hoc committee’s recommendations was hitting a snag for no apparent reason.
“We, as the ad hoc committee, have moved in unison at all times. But implementation has not taken place because of this woman called the Speaker,” Madisha said.
“This whole thing of the SABC must be implemented. She (Mbete) must do her work or go home,” he said.
Parliament’s spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, said Mbete was considering a wide range of issues pertaining to the report.
“She is processing the report. It is not gathering dust. Ultimately, at the appropriate time, it will be referred to the portfolio committee to be handled in line with the rules of Parliament,” Mothapo said.
In one of the testimonies during the inquiry, former SABC journalist Vuyo Mvoko gave evidence that SABC resources were diverted to fund the controversial business breakfasts of the Gupta-owned company and competitor, The New Age (TNA).
He said the public broadcaster did not generate any revenue from the briefings.
These claims were disputed by former board chairman Ben Ngubane, who said the breakfasts made good business sense and were at no cost to the SABC.
But, the interim board recently told Parliament that the SABC incurred costs of R20 million from the TNA business breakfasts.