Parliament's ethics committee fines MPs for failure to declare financial interests
The committee says it took the decision a week ago that the houses of Parliament reprimand nine members and impose fines ranging from R10,000 to R12,500.
National Assembly debate: Picture: Parliament RSA
CAPE TOWN - Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has slapped several members of Parliament (MPs) from different parties with fines for failing to declare their financial interests.
The committee says it took the decision a week ago that the houses of Parliament reprimand nine members and impose fines ranging from R10,000 to R12,500.
The MPs include Mk Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela, Moropene Ramokgopa - the minister in The Presidency responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation - and the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sihle Zikalala.
Deputy Transport Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa and Justice Deputy Minister Andries Nel also received a reprimand and a fine.
Parliament’s joint ethics committee says the nine MPs failed to declare their interests by the deadline in October last year.
The committee stressed that the disclosure of financial and registrable interests is the mechanism designed by Parliament to hold members accountable to the public.
It says the code prescribes that after a general election, an MP must disclose their registrable interests within 60 working days of the opening of Parliament, which was in July last year.
The committee says to ensure that new members were aware of the obligation to declare their interests, the acting registrar of members’ interests, Advocate Anthea Gordon, held extensive training sessions with MPs during 2024.
The committee also rejected ANC MP Masetshego Mofokeng’s plea for a final warning instead of a R10,000 fine because she’s a single mother, saying the code makes no provisions for final warnings.