Hosting of Sedibeng Municipality, Capricorn District Municipality Gauteng Provincial Legislature by the JC on Ethics Committee

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed Members to the meeting. He noted that apart from sharing experiences, this meeting will build links and connect with each other in a way that maximizes the impact of the work of the Committee. The work did not seek to punish anybody, but create awareness and cultivate commitment in public representatives.

Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament

Ms Fazela Mohamed, Registrar of Members Interests in Parliament, said the code of conduct was established in 1997. It was first mainly focused on disclosure of financial interests. In 2014, Parliament established a new code of conduct. The Gauteng Legislature Code of Conduct was more advanced on ethics than that of Parliament. The Ethics Committee was mandated to monitor and oversee colleague’s interests. The code of conduct sought to hold Members accountable in their exercise of power, determine acceptable behavior by Members, help Members conduct themselves appropriately as public representatives, establish minimum standards of behavior, promote values enshrined in the constitution and reduce secrecy and ensure that Members personal interests were open to public scrutiny.

Disclosure requirements for Members and local government councilors included shares and financial interests, remuneration employment outside Parliament, directorship, consultancies, sponsorship, gifts and hospitality, travel paid by an outside source, benefits, land and property, pension, trusts and encumbrances. Members had to disclose in the confidential section interests of spouses and minor children, value of benefits received. The values that guided the conduct include selflessness, integrity, objectivity, openness, honesty and leadership. A Member may not receive a gift which caused a conflict of interests, resolve any conflict of interest in favour of the public interests, ensure no person was improperly advantaged by using his or her influence, prevent any Member from being improperly advantaged through inside information and declare interests when participating in any forum and withdraw when matter was considered. Councilors were required to operate in good faith, honesty and transparently, regular attendance at meetings, disclosure of personal or private interest to council or Committee that the councilor may have in the matter before that forum and withdraw from the proceeding unless it was deemed trivial. A councilor may not solicit, request any gift or favour for voting or not voting in council, unduly interference with the administration of council, may not have an unauthorised view of any council property and may not be paid a fee to appear before council or committee on behalf of any other person.

Ethics Framework for Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL)

Dr Ralph Mgijima, Integrity Commissioner, GPL, said the GPL had a Privileges and Ethics Committee which was chaired by the Deputy Speaker with the mandate around breach of privilege and Contempt by Members of GPL and Code of Conduct and ethics (COCE) by Members of GPL. The Ethics Committee was supported by an Integrity Commissioner who investigates breach of COCE and submits a report for consideration by the Committee. The Committee investigate and report on charges of breach of privilege and contempt against Members dealt with to the Power, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act. The Integrity Commissioner was appointed from public nominations and the person must be a person of integrity, honesty, knowledge of law, public policy and politics. The Integrity Commissioner did not serve more than two terms of GPL. The Integrity Commissioner keeps a register of Members interests, scrutinizes the register, capacity building sessions and ensures implementation of COCE. In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons appointed a Commissioner of Standards who does not only deal only with matters of ethics but has a wider mandate in relation to the general conduct of members. In Canada, ethics commissioners were independent commissioners that report directly to Parliament through the speaker. In September 2014, Privileges and Ethics Committee established an ethics sector forum mandated to build and provide expertise in field of ethics, creation and promoting educational opportunities, collecting, analyzing and disseminating information regarding issues of ethics.

Sedibeng Municipality

Mr Julius Tsono, Director: Office of the Speaker, Sedibeng Municipality, said Sedibeng participated in the Gauteng Speakers forum. What was presented by Gauteng is what Sedibeng abides with. Sedibeng was developing its own ethics Committee that met when it was needed. Councilors were required to disclose their interests 60 days after being elected. The Committee ensured compiling of financial interests every year of councilors. The Committee was empowered to amend the declaration financial interest’s form of councilors.

Discussion

The Chairperson opened the floor for Committee engagement.  

Mr L Mashile (ANC) appreciated the presentations on the document Sedibeng was working on. The attitude of Gauteng must be adopted of creating an ethics sector forum in Parliament. There was a need for continuous education of Members since they were elected on political standing rather than educational qualifications. The code of conduct was good as it avoids the public of creating its own value system. A Member who got involved in the ethics Committee if dedicated becomes the most hated person, and when he relaxed, he needed to check if he was doing his job well. He asked who took responsibility when Sedibeng Municipality amended councilor’s interests without the knowledge of the person.

Ms Glenda Steyn, a Member of the GPL, said there were benefits of meeting in such a forum like this. It was interesting to note that the Auditor General audited the interests’ register of Parliament. The provision of Members not doing business with the state should be clear around the country and Members regardless of their political affiliation should ensure that Members do not do business with the state.

Ms D Carter (COPE) said the initiative from Sedibeng was very important. The initiative should be done throughout the three spheres of government.

Mr Philip Steven, a Member of the GPL, asked why Sedibeng Municipality had not yet tabled the ethics code to council.

Ms R Morotoa (ANC) said the interaction was of importance and she had learnt a lot of things from the presentation. She asked if interactions were going to continue with other provinces.

Mr Bonginkosi Dhlamini, a Member of the GPL, said one of the challenges in South Africa was diverse and has not settled for what morals and values. African culture dictates certain behavior to say thank you with a gift. Some of the ethics regenerate into the culture. The late Nelson Mandela received a Mercedez Benz car from metal workers of South Africa. Later on, the Minister of Transport received a gift and was forced to withdraw the gift. The nation must debate on national standards acceptable to South Africa. If Nelson Mandela refused a car, the metal workers will have felt sad. The issue of ethical values in the nation would require national effort. There was a need to inculcate a new culture beyond corruption. It was obvious that apartheid regime was corrupt as people were being paid to disclose information with some given farms. The National Assembly may initiate a convention to inculcate a new culture. Will it be necessary to have an integrity commissioner in every municipality or it must be at a provincial level? There was need to debate on what constitutes contempt of Parliament by a member in their conduct.

Mr Shadreck Poof, a Councilor from Sedibeng Municipality, said Sedibeng always had a code of conduct but this one being developed was a point of departure by looking at what other municipalities were doing and what other legislatures were doing. The existing code was just about financial disclosures and avoiding a conflict of interest. It has leant about the integrity commissioner from GPL and how far he goes in dealing with ethical issues.

The Chairperson said all the points had been noted.

Ms L Dzimba, a Member of the GPL asked the means of corrective measures that apply to former Members.

Ms Mohamed replied that a previous member who misused benefits such as flight benefits would have the benefits stripped off in future.

The Chairperson said that there was need for national effort to take the issue of ethics to a national level. There were other issues related to ethics that need further debate such as anarchy by public representatives, lobbying and contempt. There might be a need to meet again. Issues initiated in Gauteng may need to be spread to other provincial legislatures.

The meeting was adjourned.