The Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Dipuo Peters, and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament (MP) Floyd Shivambu both sought to weasel out of being sanctioned by Parliament on Tuesday.
This is after they were both found to have breached the members’ code of ethics.
The pair both sent lawyers’ letters to Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula at the 11th hour as the National Assembly was preparing to adopt reports from the ethics committee that they be sanctioned.
Peters was found to have breached the code in three instances related to her tenure as Transport Minister, while the committee said Shivambu failed to declare financial benefits stemming from the VBS Mutual Bank saga.
The ethics committee recommended that Peters be banned from debates and sittings for a single term of the parliamentary year, for her actions related to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa when she was the Minister of Transport.
Mapisa-Nqakula refused Peters’ request to remove the matter from the agenda.
Shivambu also asked Parliament to put the brakes on docking nine days of his salary, arguing that the VBS matter was still before the court.
His lawyer requested the matter be referred back to the ethics committee for proper investigation – but Mapisa-Nqakula was, again, unmoved.
“There is no legal impediment currently to these matters being considered before the house today,” she said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Police Bheki Cele will be expected to make a public apology to ActionSA’s Ian Cameron for an unbecoming outburst directed at him during a public meeting in Cape Town.
-EWN
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