ANC BREACHED ETHICS CODE TO PROTECT THEIR OWN

May 25, 2006

The IFP believes that the decision of the National Assembly's Ethics Committee to protect the MPs who have demonstrably breached the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament is damaging both to Parliament's reputation and to South Africa's young democracy.

The committee cleared both the Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the Deputy Minister of Sport, Gert Oosthuizen, on allegations of non-compliance with the code. Both members admitted they had held undeclared interests in companies specified by the code as being in conflict with the status of an MP.

"The Ethics Committee has failed to live up to the expectations placed on it by Parliament and the people of South Africa who elected it," said IFP representative on the committee, Sybil Seaton MP.

The IFP suspects that the ANC abused its majority on the committee to protect its own MPs accused of breaching the code of conduct. "We would be interested to see how the committee would deal with MPs from other political parties under the same circumstances," said Seaton.

The IFP hopes the Ethics Committee will derive an instructive lesson from the furore this decision has caused among the opposition parties who are committed to the standards set out by the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament. "Someone has to take the code seriously," said Seaton.

Contact:
Sybil Seaton, 083 412 0075