EDITORIAL: MPs show no fear or favour
Finance committee members, across the board, see the return of the FICA bill as a ruse
Following a heated and, at times, chaotic exchange, Parliament’s finance committee steered its way through a political minefield on Wednesday and set a line of march for the disputed Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Amendment Bill. The frustration underlying the entire process was palpable. The issues raised on Wednesday by the Black Business Council (BBC) and Progressive Professionals Forum, the parties that petitioned President Jacob Zuma not to sign the bill, had all been canvassed when the amendment bill was processed the first time. The discussions had all been had. Very specifically, the matter raised by Zuma — that the clause allowing warrantless searches was unconstitutional — had been extensively discussed and revised in the amendment to bring it in line with a recent Constitutional Court judgment. It is no wonder that members of the committee, across the board, saw the return of the bill as a ruse by politically aligned business people wanting to avoid greater scrutiny....
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