Writing for the Business Day back in 2002, ANC MP Andrew Feinstein said: “If the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) continues to act in a partisan way — it may as well not exist at all.”
This week, in an interview on The Justice Factor, eNews (August 23 2009), it was fascinating to see former ANC speaker Dr Frene Ginwala come full circle and criticise the ANC for undermining Scopa. She said the ANC had removed the privilege associated with that office and decried the ANC’s arrogance for removing this provision without consulting anyone including her as the speaker at the time.
She expressed alarm that the importance of this office was being disregarded by her own party. What they say about hindsight being the best teacher comes to mind. But quite frankly, The ANC, I am certain, did not stop there in seeking to denigrate the role of this important parliamentary committee.
They have sought to undermine Scopa at every turn since the days of Gavin Woods. The most visible and fresh memory is that of the arms-deal investigation that resulted in Woods resigning as chairperson out of protest for interference and non-cooperation by the executive.
Now the question we must answer is why does the Constitution require that Scopa be chaired by the opposition? It is surely to ensure a heightened level of accountability. That assumption falls flat on its face if such a chairperson cannot in fact exercise some level of influence and authority on the committee. If he simply becomes an extension of the ruling party this flies in the face of the Constitution’s intention to make this a watchdog of the executive. The ANC is fooling no one by placing a one-man party representative to chair this committee.
They know very well that in order to be effective, he will need back-up, something that another opposition candidate with the backing of a bigger political team can afford. Being a one-man band, Themba Godi, with all his good intentions, will have the executive running circles around him.
I am heartened by the noises he has made lately by reprimanding director-generals for neglecting their duties, but quite frankly these were more of a bark than a bite and these civil servants know this because they suspect there will be no meaningful follow-through. He could of course deal with this by assembling an oversight team around him as chairperson and call on the other parties to lend him some capacity for research.
I am not aware that this is happening. Simply relying on parliamentary staff assigned to him is hardly adequate. What is needed is political back-up to identify issues that the executive should account on and push through an ANC-dominated committee. He needs to pursue an accountability agenda that unfortunately will embarrass the ruling party into doing what they resent: accountability to Parliament. He will need to push for more powers for Scopa to hold ministers accountable.
He will also have to design the committee programme in such a way that it does not depend on the executive for the success of its operations. Suggestions being made for example to summons ministers to appear with their director-generals will go a long way in exposing some of the foolish and sometimes illegal instructions they give civil servants and never have to answer for it.
The recent Scopa findings that more than 2000 civil servants have been found to have business interests with a potential conflict of interest and that R600 million is suspected to have been embezzled by civil servants is a typical example of the toothlessness of the current arrangement.
First, the government representatives — some of whom are implicated — attempted to lie to the committee and then when they eventually told the truth, Parliament was too baffled to come up with action. This is where the chairperson, with the necessary backing, should kick in. There must be a clear step to force some action against these civil servants so that this conduct is not repeated.
But no, we are still waiting to hear whether any action will ever be taken. At this point Travelgate comes to mind. Under the nose of the same Scopa chairperson, MPs not only got away with the corrupt practice of abusing their travel privileges, but Parliament went on to buy the debt book letting me and you, the taxpayers, pay for the MPs’ indiscretions again. No wonder more than 100 members of the previous Parliament anyway were defendants on many cases ranging from shoplifting to corruption.
With MPs like these, how do we expect the committee meant to hold them accountable to ever be effective? In many ways the role that Scopa needs to play is the only hope we have for an ANC-dominated Parliament to hold its own executive accountable given a window of influence provided by being a chairperson of such an important committee.
All we have is a theoretical compliance with the constitutional provision that such a committee must be chaired by the opposition. If we cut through the charade, in practice, the ANC has sabotaged this exercise anew by ignoring major opposition parties in Parliament that could have realised the intention of the legislature to truly hold the executive accountable with this mechanism. And you say our democracy is safe? Me thinks not. It is sad that Ginwala only realises this now. Too little. Too late.
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22 Responses to “Ginwala criticises the ANC for undermining Scopa”
I agree 100% with you JJ! Ginwala is incredibly hypocritical in the interview and deserves to be exposed for it! Sies Frene!
The ANC cannot tolerate any ‘interference’ into their finacial mismangement, outright theft and corruption.
Whatever suits the ANC and does not show them up for the incompetance and corruption will be OK but the rest will be squashed and to hell with the constitution! The ANC has been and probably always will be ‘above the law” as so many cases have shown.
The contry is not run by the Government, it is run by the ANC from Lethuli House. Scopa is no good to them unless it exposes wrong doing in the opposition parties! With all the corruption, theft and lies of the past 15 years they want to ensure another 15 years to loot the treasury.
Ginwala started the rot when she caved in to the executive. Initially she supported the arms deal investigation and appeared to be acting above board as Speaker but at some stage that all changed.
Read Andrew Feinstein’s illuminating book.
So it’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black.
Quite Frankly, your argument may make a lot of sense to some. But, without being cynical, it is NOT going to be difficult for readers to cut through your spin. It is not what you say but why you are saying it that counts. You should have avoided the mistake of being a Cope spin doctor if you want to be taken seriously as an independent analyst, whatever that is. What this means is that it is going to be very difficult for you to be factual, accurate, correct, truthful in tackling the issues because you have a self-serving agenda. This does not mean that you cannot provide enlightenment and clarity but you will always be haunted by the question: whose interests do you represent?
I guess your presence here is a reflection of diversity of thought and freedom of expression. But it would be a good idea if same space was given to spin doctors from the ANC, DA, UDM, ID, IFP and a host of others, too.
I may be wrong but your position is compromised. The least you can do is to admit that this is not only a Cope propaganda machinery, for you, but the platform will be used to do the best you can to dent the ruling party and its members. I dont have to watch this space for my suspicions to be confirmed.
But in the name of free expression, welcome to ThoghtLeader and everything that it represents.
Cope must be pleased!
JJ - another good article, and it requires one to think more. I think Mr Godi is not a bad choice for the chairperson - he just needs to shout load enough for the good guys in parliament (& the press) to hear the noise.
Your article stands or falls on what you suggest to be at the heart of it viz. “Now the question we must answer is why does the Constitution require that Scopa be chaired by the opposition?”. Your entire article thus falls flat on its face on the basis that Chairpersonship of Scopa by opposition is not a constitutional requirement, it is rather a voluntary move on the part of the ANC in the interest of accountability. I wonder what you advise your parliamentary leader is you are able to tell a lie with such boldness.
According to Andrew Feinstein,Frene Ginwala played possum when Essop Pahad ran roughshod over SCOPA parliamentarians who were trying to get to the bottom of the arms deals; so it is quite rich for her to complain now that the ANC has devalued SCOPA. The rules of parliament permit SCOPA to subpoena people ( including cabinet ministers) and documents and to interrogate the issues of the day until reasonable explanations for conduct are forthcoming and suitable justification is provided for decisions taken. This is what accountability is all about. It is a matter of great regret that the arms deals shenanigans have been allowed to prevent the exacting of accountability and to drive fine parliamentarians like Feinstein and Woods into exile and resignation respectively. Perhaps there is cause for optimism when a person as well connected and influential as our regal former parliamentary speaker is prepared to voice her opinion about these matters, however belatedly. All opposition parties have a role to play in the rehabilitation of SCOPA, it can not reasonably be left to Themba Godi to do it all as he is a one man band without the researchers, comrades in arms and back-up so necessary to ensure an effective watchdog role for SCOPA. If SCOPA had withstood the battering of the executive back then, how different things might be now. An undoing of the arms deals can still save the country about R 60 billion, or the entire shortfall on the current budget which will now be borrowed.
@ Sandile: What are you saying? “JJ is COPE, therefore his article is not factual, inaccurate, incorrect and untruthful?”
Perhaps you could point out those parts that are not factual, inaccurate, incorrect and untruthful, like Themba did.
Honestly, calling JJ a spin docter for COPE……. Guess it takes a big (ANC) spin doctor to spot a small (COPE) one.
I will wait for your response, knowing full well that it will be something along the lines of racist, anti-ANC agenda, not accepting loss of power stuff.
Poor Sandile, from being criticalto being a praise-singer. Compared to the fare you have to offer, JJ is a breath of fresh air.
No sooner has he joinedd Thought Leader that he has the house on intellectual fire, a far-cry to what your lot failed to do for ages.
You are so right .The ruling ANC’s fear of the following two issues nl. accountability and responsibility will still be the undoing of this country and all who live in it .
If my association with COPE compromises me…it is intresting that you do not believe that your own position is compromised as a government spin doctor…..You cant possibly be serious to think that you can intimitade my free expression that easily.
I dont regret one bit for having taken a stance against the sort of intolerance that the likes of you sir are perpetuating.
I wont waste my blog space defending me.
All I can say is more is yet to come when a million flowers shall bloom…..
Thank you for your strange welcome….
Now what did you say on matters of susbstance again?
It seems distorting facts is a business of the day in opinion making. Even the higly regarded JJ (in Cope circles) fall in this sword.
Firstly, JJ exposes his limited understanding not only of Scopa workings but of the broader political arena. It is a malicious fallacy that “Constitution require Scopa to be chaired by the opposition”. There is no such a provision in our constitution, in fact this is a practice that is used by Westminster Parliaments to promote not only accountability but also transparency and scrutiny. However, there is no scientific evidence that such a practice is adequate.
Core of the Scopa mandate is to follow up on AG’s findings and recommendations. As such, it was AG’s finding that there are public servants who conduct business with government, not Scopa’s. I further think that Cope should learn to be proactive and grasp with issues as they come. If it was active in committee work, I think Tabane as Dandala’s political advisor would know that Scopa is on top of issues and in the final stages of its investigation.
I’m raising these issues because it important for the likes of Tabane to feed the public with accurate facts and not deviat from the truth. This culture of spreading malicious damages resulted to the split of the ANC and the ultimate formation of Cope. If we are serious about building our country and democracy we need to refrain from feeding the society lies
Tabane,
There’s no clause in our constitution that indicates that SCOPA must be led by an opposition – you’re misleading your readers here.
Maybe you should have familiarized yourself with the parliamentary processes before embarking on such a senseless spin-doctoring.
Sandile Memela you say…..
“what this means is that it is going to be very difficult for you to be factual, accurate, correct, truthful in tackling the issues because you have a self-serving agenda”.
Instead of attacking the writer go into his article and show us where he has not been factual, accurate, correct etc ie attack his ideas/article not who he is
Thanks for your note. I have taken your technical point about ‘the constitutional requirement seriously and thanks for pointing that out.
I think the conventoin has been well established and the argument is that why such a convention is being complied with. The ANC is not therefore doing anyone a favour by half heartedy implementing that convention.
The heart of the matter is
* In order to build a democracy we have to take the role of the opposition seriously
* In order for proper oversight to happen.The ANC cannot watch itself - so SCOPA has to be given the teeth it requires to bite.
* In order for it not to be a farce infact the rest of parliament excluding the ruling party should have greater say about who becomes chair. At the moment the appointment of Godi was more of a snub to COPE and DA rather than a well considered decision that would result in what I refered to as heightened oversight.
So I stand by my argument that the ANC was deliberate in making sure that SCOPA is not as effective as it should be.
Please debate these matters - I will be intrested in your response rather than holding onto a technicallity about where the ‘rule’ or ‘convention’ is written.The fact of the matter is it was adopted by parliament and has been practiced over the last 15 years. I am addressing its merits and the fact that the ANC has undermined it.
I really wish that opposition parties would for once be honest about what is happening, especially in Parliament. JJ, can you please tell me which provision of the Constitution states that SCOPA should be chaired by a member of the opposition? As far as I know, we have inherited this practise from the old Westminster system. If indeed the argument holds water that it ensures greater accountability, than surely we have to revisit our committee system and elect only opposition members as chairpersons of all committees in Parliament. If you care to check you would see that Section 56 of the Constitution gives powers to all committees in the NA; as you have described SCOPA powers, and the same had been provided for the NCOP through section 69 of the Constitution.
It is also quite amazing that you would use a public forum like ThoughtLeader to air your party’s frustrations about SCOPA, while your party representative on SCOPA, Lorraine Mashiane, is actually normally quite docile in SCOPA meetings.
Just to point out that the current SCOPA activities, ANC Whip Mandla Mbili, is quite active and vocal even when it comes to gruelling Ministers. Much the same as Vincent Smith, former ANC SCOPA Whip used to be.
But I guess this wont count to you, as they happen to be representing the majority party
Moegamat Shareef Blankenberg on August 27th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Ginwala resigned or was snubbed by Mbeki (depending on whom you want to believe) in 2004. Issues she raised in her Ruth First Memorial address and also in the interview with Malala are matters of public interest in the working of parliament and cannot be attributed to the machinisation of one political party. As I read this blog by JJ it became apparent that he and his ilk in Cope are still stuck in their electoral strategy of peddling fear and panic whilst portraying themselves as defenders of democracy. The sad thing is that it seems now they have moved a level upper,now distorting facts and masquarading as paragons of virtue. Their ad nauseam refrain is “watch the space” in respect to what they can offer the electorate. The only thing that we have seen is a party with no identity run by a bunch of amateurs whose claim to fame is positions they got through patronage whilst associated with the ANC. What a sad spectacle.
The overall role of Parliament doesn’t squarely lie on Scopa, Scopa forms part of a bigger oversight mechanism of Parliament, Chapter 9 institutions, such as Auditor-General, Public Service Commission etc included. Portfolio committees which track the programme performance of government departments and other committees such as Committee on Appropriations (which exercise in-year monitoring of government spending)cannot be excluded in the entire chain of parliamentary oversight. I guess what I’m saying is that out of more than 50 parliamentary committees, only one Committee (Scopa) is chaired by the oppossition. This has never been proven to have compromised the oversight work of Parliament, as the ANC led committees equally make the Executive to account. This infact forces them to deploy stricter measures to densure delivery on promises, as per ANC manifesto.
It is my understanding that there are certain rules that are followed in electing Committee chairpersons and in my understanding, no rules were violated in electing Hon. Godi. The chairperson is elected by the majority rule in the first meeting of the Committe and this was followed in electing Hon. Godi to his position.
In my view, Scopa is one of the most effective Committees under Hon. Godi’s leadership. This Committee has its own approach to oversight, which include periodic meetings with the relevant stakeholders. I disagree with any view that seeks to challenge the effectiveness of Scopa. Infact such negative thinking intends to confuse the public for unknown motives.
Dear Sizwe, The article was about SCOPA not the rest of the mechanism that are well known.It was spured on by the fank admission by the former speaker about how the ANC undermined the only committee chaired by the opposition.
My argument is that this is a crucial committee espcially when it comes to dealing with resources of the state.
Now if you argue like others that SCOPA under Godi has been effective I can’t quarrely with your assesment needlessly except that, I am happy to be wrong, but I not aware there is:
* A single
- Civil servant fired out of SCOPA finding.
- Minister who has been made to take some kind of responsibility cause of SCOPA effort
- MP who gave up her seat cause SCOPA acted….
A committee of this nature must have capacity to investigate, inquire and recommend strong action and see to it that such action is followed through.
So far i am afraid it has become a talk shop where MPs are polite to the executive more than anything - the exchanges make headlines for a day or two and them whoever was on the line of fire go back and frankly carries on life as usual.
Yes there are mechanisms to elect the chair but with a parliament 66 percent dominated by the ANC, They determine the chair - period.
They have made sure its a one man - that is propotional to the effectiveness u can expect.
I doubt any committee could effectively keep tabs on public accounts considering the current centralization of municipalities,electricity, railways etc.
Only be decentralising down to local community level and privatizing will accountable control over finances become possible. Government’s power is in their control of the money they collect.
The present socialist system was inherited from the previous Govt who were just as wasteful. Only the justifications differ.
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Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is Chief Executive of Oresego Holdings - International Business Advisors. He is an accredited Associate of the Institute for Independent Business International (iib). He writes here in his personal capacity.
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Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is a Media and Communications Specialist who has become a public commentator on a wide range of socio political issues over the last decade.
He has cut his teeth in both Government and Private Sector as a top communicator winning awards such as the Government Communicator of the year in 2002 and holding senior positions such as Ministerial Spokesperson for various ministers, Head of Ministry of Environmental Affairs, Communications Advisor to the Chamber of Mines Communications Vice President and General Manager at South African Airways as well as Chief Executive of Graphicor and Simeka Communications. He has also held a senior corporate affairs Job at Top Electonic Company Altron where he was in Charge of the company’s Transformation Programme and Corporate Social Investment.
When COPE was formed in 2008 Tabane quit his Corporate Job to Join COPE as their Head of Communications leading up to the 2009 General election. Until July 2010 Today amongst his many activities he was the Political Advisor to Former COPE Parliamentary Leader Dr Mvume Dandala and occasional contributor to many publications. He has also served on various boards of directors including as a member of the Gauteng Tourism Authority, Johannesburg Tourism Authority and until recently chaired the board of the Indalo Yethu Environmental Campaign.
He is still a member of the Northwest University Council where he is serving his second term. JJ Tabane is widely known for his forthright manner of debate and fearless tackling of public commentary since his student days where he was SRC President and Vice President at the Universities of the North and Western Cape where he qualified in Law and Politics. He holds a BA,( UNIN), BPROC (UWC) and Masters in Political Economy (NMMU).
He is married to Lorraine Ditshedi Tabane and has two children, Oreabetse (4) and Resego (12) after whom he has named his newly launched International Advisory Business Oresego Holdings.
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I agree 100% with you JJ! Ginwala is incredibly hypocritical in the interview and deserves to be exposed for it! Sies Frene!
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