Suspending ANC MP Peters from Parly not enough given severity of transgressions - OUTA

JOHANNESBURG - The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) said that suspending African National Congress (ANC) MP Dipuo Peters from Parliament was not enough given the severity of the transgressions she committed at state rail agency, PRASA.  

On Monday, the Western Cape High Court dismissed her urgent application to stop the implementation of her suspension from all duties in Parliament.

In October last year, the joint committee on ethics found that Peters had been careless in her previous portfolio as transport minister by failing to appoint a PRASA group CEO, irrationally dismissing the board chair, Popo Molefe, and authorising the use of PRASA buses for ANC events.

Member of Parliament Dipuo Peters will be placed on suspension from Tuesday after the dismissal of her urgent application to stop Parliament from taking action for breaching the code of ethical conduct as transport minister.

OUTA's Wayne Duvenage said that Peters, who is now the deputy minister of small business development, was instrumental in PRASA's systemic corruption, that ultimately decimated the rail passenger services that had been the transport backbone for millions of South Africans.

"It's never too late but it's far too little and this is not enough. The fact that she is still a deputy minister in one of the goverment departments is a problem and The board was uncovering a lot of corruption and she was doing everything that she could to prevent the realisation of the facts, so quite frankly, we believe she was very instrumental in her role in preventing justice being meted out."
 
Duvenage said that while it’s not too late to hold individuals accountable, the penalty for abusing public trust was far too little.