Getting away with snubbing parliament’s public accounts watchdog will be a thing of the past if the committee’s new chair Songezo Zibi has anything to do with it.
The former newspaper editor was unanimously elected chair of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) last month, having been nominated by the ANC and supported by the DA.
While the MK Party previously voiced opposition to Zibi’s election because his party, Rise Mzansi, is a signatory to the ANC-led government of national unity (GNU), the party’s MPs were singing a different tune this week as the committee wrapped up its two-day induction of its MPs.
“Well, we had our reservations obviously, because for the first time this committee was chaired by a member of the GNU, but we want to assure you that your spirit seems to be inspiring. So, we're not going to be very popular. With your sentiment, they may remove you, but the hand in glove will come to fight this thing with you, you've got our support,” said MKP's Thalente Kubheka.
Zibi’s committee has vowed to be tough on evasive politicians and government officials in ensuring thorough scrutiny of how public funds are spent.
“There appeared to not have been co-operation properly between the executive and the committee,” he said at the end of the induction this week.
If the minister says at the last minute they can't come and we don't get confirmation ... we will consider issuing a subpoena.
— Scopa chair Songezo Zibi
“Co-operation was low and the previous chair [IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa] was complaining about the same things: ministers would not want to come, they would say ‘OK, I will come’ and then they would cancel at the last minute. But then they still see them here in parliament during lunch, bumping into the same minister outside the building.”
Scopa decided to get Deputy President Paul Mashatile, in his capacity as leader of government business in parliament, more involved in ensuring compliance by the executive arm of the state.
“One of the things we decided today is when we invite a minister, I will also let him (Mashatile) know that we have invited the minister to be there on the day and [ask him to] please make sure the minister is available,” Zibi told the Sunday Times after the induction.
“And then it will be from him that we will hear that the minister can or cannot be available. If the minister says at the last minute they can't come and we don't get confirmation, we may take it that the minister has decided to absent themselves and we will consider then issuing a subpoena.”
The intention is to work closely with Mashatile’s office to make sure there is co-operation.
Scopa will also rely on its powers to subpoena information.
“I've spoken to the legal [advisers] of parliament and I asked if we can subpoena internal documents; financial statements, emails, minutes of meetings, memos pertaining to issues.
“We’re going to use that instrument and if those are not provided then that’s a criminal charge.”
Among the challenges highlighted to Zibi by Hlengwa and other former committee members was the arrival of documents to Scopa either the night before or on the morning of the meeting, which leaves MPs unprepared for engagement.
“The documents don't arrive on time, they arrive late the night before, the members wouldn’t have had a chance to look at them. They are incomplete and all these kinds of things. So, this was a massive problem that affected the quality of the work,” he said.
The tabling of reports is one of the issues he will be taking up with Mashatile, as it has to do with how seriously the executive takes Scopa, he said.
Zibi said Scopa would pay special attention to entities and government departments slapped with a disclaimer of audit opinion because of a failure to provide sufficient documentation on which to base an opinion.
“It’s an area where potentially we may make legislative recommendations because what they do, they simply refuse to co-operate. So you can't see what's going on there and there are never any consequences at all.
“So, that's the same as obstruction. If it was a police investigation, you’d get arrested for obstruction,” he said.
“That's what these guys effectively do, they simply obstruct the process and refuse to co-operate and there is no consequence for that. We are going to pay particular focus on those instances because it’s kind of worse than knowing how much is missing, you actually just don’t know.”
While there were entities with capacity issues, there were those that produced no annual report or financial statements because they did not want the auditors and the public to know what was happening.
As part of its induction, the committee was briefed by auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke, who also expressed concern about lack of consequences for those who do not comply.
Zibi revealed that his party lobbied for the Scopa chair. It has been tradition since 1994 that the position is given to an opposition MP. While there were other committees that Rise Mzansi wanted to chair, Scopa was its first choice.
This had to do with systemically cleaning up the government, something the party campaigned on in the build-up to the May general elections.
“We talked about having leaders in government who are system leaders. In other words, you make systemic changes rather than targeting things piecemeal,” he said.
An example of the systemic approach was getting the public service commission to work with the committee on hiring practices and whether accounting officers were suitably qualified and experienced, and to address those issues where necessary.
“Basically, we will be trying to see which rules, legislation and practices need to change in order to achieve a financial outcome.”
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