Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has taken steps to have former Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo criminally charged and prosecuted for defying a lawful summons to appear before the committee’s oversight inquiry into the fund.
Scopa chair Songezo Zibi said on Wednesday the majority of the committee members who spoke during the meeting indicated that the committee needed to take the next step in the process, in line with the relevant section of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.
Zibi said this act gives parliament clear authority to summon any person to appear before it, provide evidence under oath, and submit documents when required.
He said it also states that anyone who refuses to appear, without a valid reason, may be guilty of a criminal offence and is liable to a fine or imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or both.
ALSO READ: Former RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo shows Scopa the ‘middle finger’
Speaker’s concurrence
Zibi said Scopa first needs to get the Speaker of Parliament’s concurrence with the decision to lay a charge against Letsoalo, and then direct who must lay the charge.
Zibi said he will work on a report to the Speaker with parliament legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim and Scopa’s secretariat over the next 24 hours to enable it to be presented to the Office of the Speaker by close of business on Thursday.
“Then we shall await the decision of the Speaker in terms of whether she concurs or not – and then the matter shall be taken forward in the manner that it should.”
Earlier during the Scopa meeting, Ebrahim told the committee that parliament’s legal services had written to Letsoalo’s attorney on Tuesday, advising that the committee had taken the decision to hold Wednesday’s meeting virtually, in view of the fact it may be difficult for Letsoalo to attend in person.
However, she said it was clear from the correspondence they received late on Tuesday night that Letsoalo would not be attending the meeting on Wednesday.
Ebrahim said Letsoalo maintains that Scopa is not the appropriate forum to deal with the issues it is dealing with, and that these issues remain within the ambit of the Portfolio Committee on Transport.
She said the letter was simply a repeat of claims previously made by Letsoalo and accuses Scopa of not dealing with the legal issues raised, but which have been dealt with at length in previous letters sent to Letsoalo.
“It is clear that, as things stand now, Mr Letsoalo still contests the authority of the committee to conduct the inquiry and the committee now has to determine what its way forward is,” she said.
ALSO READ: Scopa summons former RAF CEO via social media
Letsoalo challenges Scopa’s authority
During an interview on SABC television on Tuesday night, Letsoalo claimed that Scopa can only deal with matters the Auditor-General (AG) has looked at, and which the RAF annually submits to parliament.
He indicated that, from the terms of reference of Scopa’s inquiry into the RAF, this is not what the committee is doing and was adamant he would not be attending the Scopa inquiry.
“I’m not going to that kangaroo court where Songezo Zibi is the chair, the evidence leader, the interrogator, the witness selector and the adjudicator in one,” he said.
“Where have you ever seen something like that?”
Ebrahim told the committee that laying charges against a person for non-compliance with a summons from parliament is unprecedented.
She said the closest parliament has previously come to doing this was with former minister of tourism Lindiwe Sisulu, but she was removed from her position before that happened.
Ebrahim was adamant the summons to appear before Scopa had been lawfully served on Letsoalo despite the difficulty experienced in delivering it to him.
ALSO READ: ‘A very litigious character’: Scopa holds off on summoning Letsoalo to RAF inquiry
Letsoalo has no right to decide how parliament operates
Scopa member Patrick Atkinson from the Democratic Alliance (DA) said Letsoalo did not have a right to decide how parliament conducts its duties or which committee is empowered to do so.
“There is a very strong feeling that Letsoalo believes that he is above the law – from seeing the way he has run the fund that he hasn’t felt it necessary to abide by the rulings of the AG, and generally legal cases that have been brought against him.
“I do think that this attitude needs to be stopped. He needs to be shown that this is a rule of law, country and committee, and if he tries to flout that, then unfortunately it opens the door to anyone to do just that.
“He needs to face the might of the law,” said Atkinson.
“We do need to lay charges against him and [for him to] be arrested and face the consequences.”
ALSO READ: Former RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo refers a dispute with the fund to the CCMA
ActionSA wants ‘orange overalls’ for Letsoalo
Scopa member Alan Beesley of ActionSA said he asked the AG about a year ago in a Scopa meeting what her dream was in order to ensure accountability in the public sector, and she said it was for any official who had broken the law “to be placed in orange overalls”.
Beesley said Scopa plays a pivotal role in the oversight in the ecosystem of governance in public entities and, as such, Letsoalo has broken the law by not appearing.
“If we are going to take our role responsibly as Scopa, we lead the way and he must face criminal prosecution and must be placed in orange overalls because if we don’t do that, we are ducking our own roles and responsibilities.”
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
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