11 MPs set to have salaries docked over failure to declare financial interests on time
Eleven of the 454 members required to submit their information by the September 2023 deadline failed to do so for a variety of reasons and the joint ethics committee said it’s taken a no-tolerance approach to those who have not complied.
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CAPE TOWN - Eleven African National Congress (ANC) Members of Parliament (MPs) are set to have their salaries docked and be formally reprimanded in Parliament for failing to declare their financial interests on time.
Among those who violated the ethics code are the Deputy Minister in the Presidency Nokuzola Tolashe, chairperson of the joint standing committee on intelligence - Jerome Maake, and prominent MP Mandla Mandela.
The joint ethics committee said it’s taken a no-tolerance approach to those who have not complied.
In a report due to be tabled in the house on Tuesday, the committee says disclosing financial information is central to holding MPs accountable.
Eleven of the 454 members required to submit their information by the September 2023 deadline failed to do so for a variety of reasons.
Most cited personal problems for forgetting or missing the deadline, and several others had technology issues.
Maake pleaded for leniency, saying it was the first time in 19 years he didn’t make a disclosure in time - owing to a car accident the day before.
Mandela did the same, pointing out that it was the first deadline he missed in 14 years, owing to an undisclosed personal reason.
They are among eight others who the committee recommended be reprimanded and fined 20 days’ salary.
However, the ANC’s youngest MP, 25-year-old Itumeleng Ntsube has been handed the harshest sentence of no pay for 30 days, for failing to meet the deadline for a third time in five years.