South Africa

ANALYSIS

As ANC parliamentary committee chairpersons are named, Magashule is left holding all the aces

As ANC parliamentary committee chairpersons are named, Magashule is left holding all the aces
Mosebenzi Zwane, Faith Muthambi, Tina Joemat-Petterson and Mandla Mandela. (Photos: EPA/Alexander Joe / Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo) / Gallo Images / The Times / Ruvan Boshoff) / GCIS/Flickr)

A mix of those fingered in State Capture, alongside former MECs, ex-mayors and one-time members of the Jacob Zuma executive, are now in charge of Parliament’s committees. After a series of delays, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule on Wednesday 19 June came to Parliament to make the announcement, saying it was a ‘collective decision’.

The announcement of committee chairpersons – key parliamentary posts as they direct and drive MPs’ oversight and legislative work – was meant to have been made on Thursday 13 June at the regular ANC parliamentary caucus. It was postponed at the last minute for further consultations, the shorthand for factional horse-trading.

At Wednesday’s media briefing, ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule alongside ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina confirmed the announcement had been delayed the previous week due to the need to consult Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Before that, discussions had been held on “each and every” name on a list to which the ANC top six officials then made some changes, according to the chief whip:

We don’t approach deployment in a factional manner… We deploy on experience and capacity”.

Magashule added: “As the ANC officials, we are very happy we have been working together very constructively.”

But Daily Maverick understands there were significant changes made from the committee chairpersons’ list of last week, particularly after the alliance consultations, and Wednesday’s announced incumbents are largely representative or at least supportive of the radical economic transformation (RET) grouping associated with Zuma and Magashule.

It could have been worse,” was the comment of an insider privy to the behind-the-scenes trade-offs. In some circles on the parliamentary grapevine those trade-offs are said to be part of a compromise agreed to by President Cyril Ramaphosa to fend off a new generation of walking wounded – and a replay of the political mobilisation ahead of the 2007 Polokwane ANC national conference which saw Zuma successfully take on then-president Thabo Mbeki.

Broadly speaking, the ANC’s parliamentary committees are dominated by former ministers and deputy ministers, ex-MECs and one-time mayors, many of whom have also been publicly linked to State Capture, be it through #GuptaLeaks or testimony before the Zondo Commission:

  • Faith Muthambi, co-operative governance committee chairperson. Her stint as communications minister was sharply criticised by the 2016 parliamentary SABC inquiry that recommended Zuma should consider sacking her, while #GuptaLeaks showed she had leaked Cabinet information to the Guptas. She has been in regular attendance at Zuma’s trial in Pietermaritzburg; not so much at Parliament where in the pre-election term she was sent to the labour committee.
  • Mosebenzi Zwane, transport committee chairperson. Having been ditched as mineral resources minister in Ramaphosa’s first Cabinet reshuffle in February 2018, Zwane became a backbencher, but was rarely seen in Parliament. He’s been linked to the dodgy dealings around the Gupta-linked Tegeta acquisition of the Optimum coal mine on the back of Eskom pre-paying almost R700-million for yet to be delivered coal. During his time as Free State agriculture MEC, it was his official invitation that facilitated the landing of the 2013 Gupta wedding guests at the Waterkloof Air Force base, and the establishment of the Vrede dairy farm.
  • Bongani Bongo, now home affairs committee chairperson, was a firm defender of controversial Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, leading the faction on the justice committee to stave off a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness for office. Appointed from the back benches as state security minister by Zuma, the Sunday Times reported Bongo had tried to bribe the evidence leader of the parliamentary Eskom State Capture inquiry. That matter is one the parliamentary ethics committee of the previous Parliament failed to finalise; Bongo had gone to court but was told the judiciary could not tell the legislature what to do. It’s now up to Parliament to revive the ethics case through a motion in the House – and for Bongo to run the risk of being found guilty.
  • Sifiso Buthelezi, appropriations committee chairperson. The former finance deputy minister and firm Zuma supporter now oversees the appropriations for South Africa’s R1.83-trillion Budget, and public spending at a time when the public purse is strained. Buthelezi did not cover himself in glory while at the finance portfolio, but loyally defended those linked to Zuma, like former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni, also the executive chairperson of the JG Zuma Foundation, when she fobbed off parliamentary oversight.
  • Joe Maswanganyi who now heads the Standing Committee on Finance (Scof), is another former Zuma supporter and one-time minister in charge of a finance committee. And he’s shown loyalty to others among the Zuma supporters: while still transport minister he had planned to appoint Myeni his adviser, although that did not materialise as Maswanganyi was dropped from Ramaphosa’s Cabinet in February 2018, according to the Sowetan.
  • Supra Mahumapelo, the tourism committee chairperson, is a firm supporter of Zuma who won his fight to remain North West ANC chairperson through the courts that overturned his removal. This came after the ANC decided to dissolve the provincial structures in the wake of volatile protests in mid-2018. Mahumapelo has cruised above State Capture such as the Gupta-linked Mediosa Health Service that ultimately went bust, or other dodgy dealings like the 2015 game deal involving the transfer of prize animals from North West government-owned reserves to Southern Africa Rare Game Breeders Holdings without a tender, and which benefited former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans – now also an ANC MP – and Mike de Kock, a businessman said to be close to Mahumapelo. In October 2018, Parliament’s environmental affairs committee resolved the R100-million deal should be reversed as it had failed to follow correct processes.

There are other appointments which have raised eyebrows.

Cedric Frolick returns as House Chairpersons for Committee Chairpersons despite being named as a Bosasa middleman by Angelo Agrizzi before the Zondo State Capture commission. And former energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who during the Zuma presidency pushed strongly for nuclear power stations, how heads the police committee.

Western Cape acting ANC chairperson, and SACP leader Khaya Magaxa is in charge of public enterprises, while ex-deputy finance minister Mondli Gungubele is now social development committee chairperson.

Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela now heads the agriculture, land reform and rural development committee, where his position as a traditional leader may give rise to conflicts of interest, especially when communal tenure legislation comes up, as is expected during this parliamentary term.

Former MECs and now committee chairpersons include: ex-Gauteng health boss Hope Papo, now communications committee chairperson; former KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who now heads the parliamentary health committee; and former Eastern Cape economic development, environmental affairs and tourism head, Sakhumzi Somyo, who heads the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General. Ex-Ekurhuleni mayor and trade unionist Duma Nkosi was appointed trade and industry committee chairperson.

While Cosatu welcomed Nkosi’s appointment and the retention of ex-KwaZulu-Natal Cosatu secretary Zet Luzipho as minerals and energy committee chairperson, alongside the appointment of its former first deputy president James Tyotyo as chairperson of the public service and administration committee, other reaction to the ANC selection of committee chairpersons was scathing.

The ANC’s candidates for some of the committees are frankly shocking and shows a complete disregard for the people of South Africa,” said DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen in a statement.

It is clear that Ramaphosa’s attempts at forging a new dawn are being hampered by the ANC’s factional fault lines – with Ramaphosa on one side and Ace Magashule on the other. The Magashule faction won this fight, and will do all it can to undermine all attempts at building a better South Africa for all.”

The ANC would see this differently. Its statement on Wednesday described the selection as the “culmination of a rigorous and a careful process of putting together a capable and competent leadership that will bolster the constitutional role of Parliament to conduct effective oversight over the executive in the interest of the people of South Africa”.

Magashule and Majodina were adamant no clouds hung over any of the committee chairpersons – the ANC integrity commission had cleared all.

The law allows them to be MPs because they have not been found guilty by a court of law,” said Magashule, adding with specific reference to Muthambi, Zwane and Bongo: “They appeared before the [ANC] integrity commission and the integrity commission did not find them guilty of anything.”

But a technicist narrow perspective on integrity and ethical leadership may not hold sway in the hurly-burly of parliamentary politics, where the opposition, regardless of whether that’s the DA or EFF, will make the most of the committee chairpersons’ dodgy pasts. DM

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.