MPs recommend Mosebenzi Zwane be suspended from parliament

Former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane faces suspension from parliament, a sanction that is beyond what it usually metes out to transgressing MPs.

Parliament’s ethics committee found Zwane guilty of a slew of charges emanating from his time in office under former president Jacob Zuma, and recommended he be suspended from parliamentary debates for one term. If approved by the house, he will be ineligible to participate in debates for the current sitting, which ends in May 2024.

The recommended penalty goes beyond the maximum sanctions specified in the code of conduct for MPs: a reprimand in the house; a fine of 30 days’ salary; a reduction of salary or allowances for 30 days; the suspension of certain privileges; or a 30-day suspension from parliamentary debates or committees.

The committee relied on item 10.7.7.2 of the code which allows it to recommend a “greater sanction it deems appropriate” and not confine itself to the recommended penalties.

DA MP James Lorimer and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) laid complaints against Zwane in 2017:

• He undertook a flight from Zurich to Dubai in the company of Tony Gupta and Salim Essa and spent two days in India with the Guptas before returning to Johannesburg.
• During his time in Dubai, Zwane stayed at the five-star Oberoi hotel, which was paid for by Sahara Computers, a company owned by the Guptas; he was chauffeur-driven at the expense of Sahara Computers while considering approval for the sale of the Optimum Coal Mine; he also assisted in negotiating the sale with Tegeta, which was awarded multimillion-rand deals to supply coal to Eskom.
• Zwane misled parliament by lying in response to questions by various MPs.
• He appointed Gupta associate K Moodley, as his special adviser and Malcolm Mabaso as his personal adviser; Moodley’s company Albatime (Pty) Ltd made a R10m payment to Tegeta towards the purchase of the Optimum Coal Mine; and Moodley’s wife served on the board of Eskom from 2014 to 2016; Mabaso was a business associate of Essa and a director of Premium Security Cleaning.
• Zwane’s continuous absenteeism from the portfolio committee on mineral resources in 2017 to 2018 frustrated the work of the committee to hold an inquiry into his alleged unlawful conduct.
• He abused his role on an interministerial committee by issuing a press statement about a cabinet meeting and the work of the task team looking into the closure of Guptas’ bank accounts — his statement was later rejected by the presidency.

The committee found Zwane received benefits and hospitality that weren’t disclosed to parliament; neither did he provide documentary evidence to confirm he paid for the travel, hotel stay and chauffeur.

Zwane also failed to disclose registrable interests for the period 2015/2016 and thereby breached the code, a breach the committee recommended he forfeit five days’ salary.

Zwane did not deny issuing the press statement that brought the executive and parliament into disrepute, but the ethics found his actions breached the code and that he had violated the public’s trust.

For that, the committee wants him to apologise to the National Assembly, saying he abused his role on the interministerial committee.

“He did not discharge his obligations in terms of the constitution, to parliament and the public at large by placing the public interests above his own interests,” the committee said.

It further found him guilty of breaching the code for appointing advisers who were business associates of the Guptas, and he will have to apologise to the house for this transgression.

The committee made no finding on Zwane’s alleged misleading or lying in his responses to parliamentary questions, saying the house should deal with the matter.

The suspension from parliamentary debates for the rest of the parliamentary term is the proposed penalty for Zwane’s alleged involvement in the negotiations and approval of the sale of Optimum Coal Mine to the Gupta-owned Tegeta.

Zwane is already on “step aside” in the ANC after he was charged with fraud and corruption in September in a case related to the Vrede dairy farm scandal.

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