DA to report Van Rooyen to public protector for misleading Parliament
The Democratic Alliance will report Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane for violating the Executive Ethics Code, the party said on Sunday.
In a reply to a DA parliamentary question, Van Rooyen denied visiting the politically connected Gupta family’s compound in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, in the run up to his disastrous brief appointment as finance minister, DA spokesman Kevin Mileham said.
“Yet, reports today [Sunday] indicate that Van Rooyen met the Gupta’s at their residence not once but seven times. Clearly he was misleading in his reply and in so doing he has contravened the Executive Ethics Code.”
Section 2.3(a) of the code stated that “members of the executive may not (a) wilfully mislead the legislature to which they are accountable”.
“The DA will now report Van Rooyen to the Public Protector adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane for this violation of the act,” Mileham said.
Details in the Sunday Times newspaper indicated that his appointment as co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister could have been part of a longer term plan to allow Gupta-linked companies gain access to the more than R400 billion in municipal spending, and that Van Rooyen’s appointment was merely another way for them to achieve this outcome.
“These latest allegations further demonstrate that the minister is little more than a puppet those strings are pulled to allow access to state funds for the benefit of [President Jacob] Zuma and his cronies.”
The DA would also submit parliamentary questions to Van Rooyen to determine:
– whether there had been any discussions between himself and his adviser Ian Whitley and/or Trillian Capital Partners CEO Eric Wood regarding the use of municipal assets to secure private debt financing for municipalities?
– the nature of his relationship with the Gupta’s and their known associates; and
– whether he in fact did meet the Gupta’s in the week prior to his appointment as minister of finance?
“The Democratic Alliance will not allow a minister to get away with misleading Parliament and the people of South Africa. Nor will we permit South Africa’s municipalities to be looted by the Gupta’s or the ANC,” Mileham said.