Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests said on Thursday that questions around the ethics of two ANC MPs facing bribery allegations were unfounded.
ANC chief whip Pammy Majodina and colleague Qubudile Dyantyi were implicated in a scheme to extort suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s husband for R200k each.
In exchange for the reward, the late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson alleged that parliament’s inquiry into Mkhwebane’s competence could be fixed in her favour.
Dyantyi chaired the inquiry into Mkhwebane‘s fitness to hold office.
Joemat-Pettersson’s mysterious death on June 5 left gaping holes in the investigation, and the ethics committee said on Thursday that she ceased to be an MP when she died.
Police confirmed at the time that an inquest into Joemat-Pettersson’s death had been opened.
After studying the audio recordings and text messages between Mkhwebanes’ husband, David Skosana, and Joemat-Pettersson, the committee let Dyantyi and Majodina off the hook.
“The committee found that the complaint is unfounded and that Dyantyi and Majodina did not breach the code,” according to advocate Anthea Gordon, acting registrar of members’ interests.
Gordon said Skosana’s statement to the police did not specifically mention Dyantyi and Majodina.
She continued: “There has been a lot of speculation and fanfare about the content of the audio recordings, but the audio recordings do not mention the two members of parliament.”
She said the WhatsApp messages did not link the two MPs to the allegation, and both the text and audio recordings had missing parts.
“Therefore [it] may not be a true reflection of their communication,” she said.
However, a copy of Skosana’s statement showed that he specifically mentioned both Majodina and Dyantyi as alleged collaborators with Joemat-Pettersson.
Both their names are also clearly mentioned in the clips of audio recordings.
Sunday World learnt that while the Hawks were also investigating the case, the investigating officer had yet to interview Dyantyi and Majodina.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe this week referred questions on the outcome of the autopsy into Joemat-Pettersson’s death to the family.
Gordon said on Thursday the evidence before the committee did not provide a conclusion on the probability that Dyantyi and/or Majodina solicited a bribe.
“It also does not show that Dyanti or Majodina breached the code.”
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