Modise: Parliament must apologise for dragging its feet on Gupta allegations
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise says Parliament now understands that it cannot let allegations of corruption fester before it decides to act.
Modise appeared before the commission of inquiry into state capture on Monday.
She was asked why Parliament did not act immediately and investigate the allegations that the Guptas had captured the state.
At the time, she was the chair of the National Council of Provinces.
The first allegations against the Guptas started in 2011, predominantly in the media.
Parliament only acted in 2017 after a chain of emails, dubbed the Guptaleaks, were exposed.
Modise said Parliament did not act in 2011 because of lack of evidence.
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"Parliament awoke, now we know that we must not allow things to fester, now we must not allow somebody else to say take the initiative and when we do our annual chairpersons, we ask them if they keep up with newspaper reports. We are now at the point where we want to know everything.
"It is regrettable that in fact the impression is that Parliament only woke up when things were really bad, for that we must apologise to the South African people," said Modise.
She said it is difficult for parliament to investigate matters that are in the media, although MPs are empowered to approach law enforcement agencies to investigate public allegations.
Modise added that the Constitutional Court ruling in 2016, against Parliament's inaction on the security upgrades at former President Jacob Zuma's homestead in Nkandla, has ensured that it acts on reports by Chapter 9 institutions.
She said at the time Parliament did not view the public protectors' recommendations as binding.
