By Thys Khiba: The opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) m Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube accused the African National Congress (ANC) of allegedly protecting its current President Cyril Ramaphosa, the way they protected their former President Jacob Zuma.
“The ANC in Parliament has once again failed in its Constitutional obligations by protecting President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet from accountability and scrutiny about alleged abuse of public resources and institutions on his Phala Phala game farm,” said Gwarube.
This comes after the ANC decided to vote against the DA’s motion to establish an ad hoc committee that would have investigated matters surrounding the alleged theft.
The opposition party believes that the governing party is beyond the point of self-correction.
Gwarube viewed the decision taken by the ANC members to go against their ‘logical motion’ as a sad day for South African democracy.
“This is the same as the ANC in the 5th Parliament who protected former President Jacob Zuma and his ministers from being held responsible for Nkandla and State Capture,” she said.
The ANC with the voting assistance of the Good Party voted against the motion to defeat all opposition parties voted in favour of the motion.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supported the DA call for the establishment of an ad hoc committee.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) told Parliament there were too many unanswered questions around the President farm matter.
“Phala Phala has been shrouded in secrecy with details only emerging the story evolves,” said IFP MP Siphosethu Ngcobo.
In their argument, the DA tried to convince members of Parliament to vote in favour of the motion by using views of State Capture report.
“It is precisely what the Zondo Commission’s State Capture report meant when it found that Parliament “failed to use the oversight and accountability measures at its disposal” during the Zuma years.
History will judge every MP who voted against accountability harshly. In effect, a vote against this motion was a clear message to the people of South Africa that there are a set of rules for the ANC and the politically connected; while there is a different set of rules for ordinary people,” said Gwarube.
The ANC accused the DA of Lesoma being “fixated on drama and sensation in an attempt to appear to be relevant”.
In response to the proposed motion, ANC MP Regina Lesomaindicated Parliament is already dealing with the Phala Phala matter through the Section 89 panel.
“We all agreed in Parliament, that this to be the best process to establish the facts and evidence. In addition to Parliament processes, the Hawks, South African Reserve Bank [SARB} and the office of the Public Protector are carrying out investigations on the matter.
Despite this the DA led coalition, is not satisfied that we have four institutions investigating the matter, want an ad hoc committee on top pierce the corporate of veil of a juristic person,” she said.
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