Parliament commits to implement State Capture Report

Parliament says it is in the process of “establishing appropriate systems” which will help it to “process and oversee” the implementation of the State Capture Report.

The full report is due to be handed over to the legislative body following the submission of the last tranche of the report to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

According to Parliament spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, the President has already submitted the third tranche of the report to Parliament which has flagged some past and present members of Parliament.

“Part three of the report identifies several past and present Members of Parliament who are implicated in conduct that may constitute illegal, unlawful, or unethical behaviour. As the aspects of the report have a direct bearing on parliamentary business, the institution has swiftly initiated a processes to implement its recommendations.

“Accordingly, the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members. This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place,” Mothapo said.

He added that although the President is expected to hand over the full report on or before August 31st this year, Parliament has already moved to make sure that it is ready to implement recommendations.

“Parliament’s research department is currently processing the reports, summarising them into, amongst others, action plans to improve Parliament’s execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports.

“Parliament’s Legal Services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion proposing a process Parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted,” he said.

Mothapo acknowledged that Parliament is obligated to “implement corrective measures” stemming from the report where it has a “role to play”.

“Similarly, Parliament has a responsibility to oversee the Executive’s and state agencies’ actions in their process of carrying out the implementation of commission reports.

“The Rules Committee will, at an opportune time, consider how best to process the reports and implementation plan in their entirety,” he said.