The ethics committee has found that a Cabinet minister and three ministers did not violate the ethics code after allegations of corruption were levelled against them. Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht/SAPA
The Ethics Committee has cleared Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi and House chairperson Cedrick Frolick on allegations of benefiting from Edwin Sodi and Bosasa respectively.
The committee also found it has already made a ruling against former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane relating to the Guptas.
House chairperson in the National Council of Provinces, Winnie Ngwenya, was also cleared after former parliamentarian Dennis Bloem told the Zondo Commission she had been sent to recruit him to do the bidding for Bosasa.
The ethics committee found that the incident happened before the current ethics code came into effect in 2014. Bloem was chairperson of the portfolio committee on correctional services between 2004 and 2009.
Co-chairpersons of the ethics committee, Bhekizwe Nkosi and Lydia Moshodi, said on Tuesday they found that Nxesi had not breached the ethics code relating to payments received from Sodi.
Sodi had paid R45,000 to Nxesi for two families in need of financial assistance.
The committee said, after considering the evidence, Nxesi was not in violation of the code.
“The member clarified that his name appeared as a reference for the payment but that the payment was not made to him. Rather, the payment was the result of a fund-raising initiative he undertook to raise money to assist two families in financial need.
“The committee considered the proof of the payments and found that it confirms the version of events as explained by the member. The committee found that the member did not breach the code,” said the ethics committee.
On Zwane, the committee said it could not deal with the Vrede dairy project matter as it fell outside its scope as Zwane was MEC of Agriculture in the Free State at the time.
On Zwane’s role when he was Minister of Minerals and Energy, the committee said a finding had already been made a few months ago where he was found guilty of breaching the ethics code. He was fined five days’ salary and ordered to apologise in the House.
Zwane had failed to declare sponsorships and travel by the Guptas.
Zwane had also appointed advisers linked to the Guptas.
The ethics committee cleared Frolick of allegedly receiving a bribe from Bosasa and said that they paid for his accommodation at a hotel in Johannesburg. This related to influencing the former chairperson of the portfolio on correctional services, Vincent Smith, to favour Bosasa in Parliament.
It was also alleged that Frolick had intervened and tried to get late former Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson to withdraw his legal action against the department of correctional services.
The committee said since the matter happened before the current code came into effect in 2014, it could not deal with these issues retrospectively.
The committee also found that the previous code of ethics did not deal with issues including trying to influence the chairperson of a portfolio committee and favour a private company, trying to set up a meeting between a private company and the chairperson of a committee, and trying to intervene in legal matters involving a department and a private company.
It also found that the accommodation was paid for by the Eastern Rugby Province, and this was disclosed.
On the matter of Ngwenya, who was a member of the portfolio committee on correctional services at the time, she was alleged to have taken bribes from Bosasa to influence the committee.
The ethics committee said it could not deal with this issue retrospectively, as it happened before the current code came into effect in 2014.
But when Ngwenya appeared before the ethics committee, she denied allegations made by Dennis Bloem, who implicated her in the Bosasa scandal. Ngwenya also denied meeting Vincent Smith at a hotel or that she lived close to Bosasa offices in Johannesburg.
“The committee accepted the explanation by the member and found that the member did not breach the code,” said the committee.
The committee said none of the four members could be linked to any of the alleged offences it investigated since they were brought to their attention.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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