Deputy President Paul Mashatile said on Thursday that he will not disclose his financial interests publicly except as required by Parliament for Members of Parliament.
This comes after DA MP Nicholas Gotsell stated during a question-and-answer session in the National Council of Provinces that ethical leadership required a person in a leadership position to avoid, even as much as a perception of impropriety, to maintain public confidence.
“If you agree with this statement, deputy president, will you provide this House with an undertaking to proactive transparency and voluntarily submit yourself to the Ethics Committee, publicly disclose your full financial interests?” Gotsell asked.
In his response, Mashatile said he has been a Member of Parliament and legislator for many years, and it was the ANC that introduced the declaration of interest by MPs, MECs, and ministers.
“We do that all the time, so anybody who wants to know about my financial interests, what do I own, where do I live? It’s all there in Parliament.”
Mashatile also said he had disclosed where he lived but had not told them how much he had in his bank account.
“Because Parliament did not say, I must go and declare those things somewhere publicly. They say I must declare them here.”
He also said the declarations have a confidential section for an MP’s spouse or family members, just as it was the case for ministers.
“Maybe if you want to know, you can go and ask the Speaker if you want to look at it,” he said.
“I don’t know if they will allow you, but it’s all there. So I can’t then go out publicly and say, hey, this is how much I am worth. That’s what I have, no, there’s no need for that. I report to Parliament and the president, and that’s it.”
Initially, Mashatile was asked by MK Party’s Mmabatho Mokoena-Zondi about steps he was taking to maintain transparency and restore public trust in his office in response to allegations of corruption that have been brought against him by the DA, including claims of benefitting from nepotism and failing to declare certain properties.
The deputy president said the allegations were exactly that: they were allegations.
“The most important thing when there are allegations is proof, right, and mainly through courts of law to ensure the authenticity of the allegations so that we can conclude if one is guilty or not.”
Mashatile said he had subjected himself to the necessary processes and institutions such as the ANC Integrity Commission and Parliament’s Ethics Committee.
“I will continue to subject myself to the relevant institutions as established through our own Constitution.”
He told the NCOP that he had appointed one of the officials in his office to ensure that the registrar kept for declarable interest was timely updated every year, after reports surfaced that he did not declare some of his declarable interests.
“The allegation that I did not declare certain things, which was not true, we will ensure that we timelessly update the media team, as well as my office, is ensuring a timely response to the press issues that come on social media.”
