DA launches crooked comrades register

Rumour has it that this register may become the "largest book ever penned" according to Guinness World Records. Seriaaas. Think of any country with so many convicted criminals in government. None. The list has 16 prominent names on it already and does not include all those dozens of Travelgate crooks who got sweatheart deals and the Big LaZuma hisself who side-stepped due process. I suppose it's apt. A country of criminals run by criminals for criminals.

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Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance on Thursday launched a "crooked comrades" monitor listing the names of ANC officials found guilty of crimes or misconduct and called for them to be kicked out of public service.

The monitor contains the names of 16 officials, among them MPs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Angie Molebatsi, who hold fraud convictions, and MP and former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who was convicted of stealing a patient's watch in a hospital in Botswana in the 1970s.

Also on the list are six MPs convicted in the Travelgate scandal, among them parliamentary portfolio committee chairs Ruth Bhengu and Mnyamezeli Booi, and disgraced academic Paul Ngobeni, who was recently appointed legal advisor to Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Ngobeni was found guilty of misconduct and struck from the roll as a lawyer in the United States.

Bought flowers with state money

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba in 2007 bought his wife flowers with state money, and was forced to repay it.

DA spokesperson James Selfe said the party wanted to force the ANC to rethink its deployment policy as it went against President Jacob Zuma's stated desire to "create an ethos of accountability".

"There is clearly a disjunction between those sentiments designed to ensure the right people represent the public's best interest and political will necessary to make them a reality."

Big cost to taxpayer

Selfe said most of those on the DA's list earned "significant salaries" and together they cost the taxpayer R14m a year. He said the party believed if somebody had been found guilty of misappropriating funds that person should not be trusted with public money again.

He conceded that 16 was a relatively "small" number but predicted that the list would grow. It features two officials who hold prominent jobs in Zuma's office.

The new chief operating officer in the presidency, Jessie Duarte, had to resign as Gauteng's safety and security MEC after she was suspected of covering up an accident because she did not have a driver's licence.

The presidency's acting communications chief, former journalist Vusi Mona, fell foul of the Hefer Commission for publishing a story falsely claiming former prosecutions chief Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. - SAPA

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The link is here.

The DA Monitor

NAME	POSITION	ANNUAL SALARY*	TRACK RECORD
Bhengu, Ruth	ANC Member of Parliament. Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport.	R948 273.00 as an MP and Committee Chair.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud (R43 000) Fined R45 000 or two years’ imprisonment, and given a three-year suspended sentence.
Booi, Mnyamezeli	ANC Member of Parliament; Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans.	R948 273.00 as an MP and Committee Chair.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud. Fined R50 000, or five years' jail, and given until January 2014 to pay the money in monthly instalments of R1000.
Dlamini, Bathabile	ANC Member of Parliament; Deputy Minister of Social Development.	R1 327 560.00 as a Deputy Minister and MP.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of fraud (R254 000 service benefits/mileage claims) and was sentenced to a fine of R120 000.00 or 5 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years
Dlulane, Beauty	ANC Member of Parliament; Member of the SADC parliamentary forum.	R714 618.00 as a MP.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of fraud (R289 000 service benefits/mileage claims) and was sentenced to a fine of R120 000.00 or 5 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years
Duarte, Jessie	Chief Operating Officer: The Presidency.	Between R557 133.00 and R905 538.00 as a member of the Senior Management Service and depending on whether level 14 or 15.*** The DA has asked questions to determine her salary.	Resigned due to Maladministration: Forced to quit as Gauteng’s minister for safety and security after a commission of inquiry found there was a “strong suspicion” she had covered up a car accident while driving without a licence. (See Mail & Guardian; 17 January 2008) The Commission found that: Duarte had driven her official state vehicle without a valid drivers licence and that there was a ‘strong suspicion’ she and other department officials had covered up an accident she had while driving this vehicle; Gross mismanagement and maladministration had overrun her provincial department. Duarte had abused state funds by buying oversees air tickets for a friend who accompanied her on an official visit to Portugal; and Duarte had grossly overpaid an unqualified administrative assistant.
Duma, Ndleleni	ANC Member of Parliament.	R714 618.00 as a MP.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of theft (R51 000 service benefits) and was sentenced to a fine of R30 000.00 or 3 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years.
Gigaba, Malusi	ANC Member of Parliament; Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.	R1 327 560.00 as a Deputy Minister and MP.*	Misused Public Funds: Exposed in 2007 (while also Deputy Minister for Home Affairs) for running a “leadership academy” from his office and buying expensive flowers for his wife with state money. Repaid the flowers money. (See Mail & Guardian; 17 January 2008)
Kannemeyer, Bruce	Municipal Manager: OR Tambo District Municipality	Approx. R895 000.00.	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of theft (R70 000 service benefits) and was sentenced to a fine of R40 000.00 or 3 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years.
Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie	ANC Member of Parliament.	R714 618.00 as a MP.*	Convicted of Kidnapping and Fraud: Charged in 1991 with the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei. Convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The sentence was reduced to a fine of R15 000 on appeal. In 2001 she was charged with obtaining loans for non-existent ANC Women’s League employees. Found guilty on 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft. Sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The theft charges were overturned on appeal and her sentence reduced by 18 months and suspended for five years. (See Mail & Guardian; 17 January 2008)
Maloyi, Patrick	Speaker in the North West Provincial Legislature.	R1 327 560 as Speaker.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of fraud (R150 000 service benefits/mileage claims) and was sentenced to a fine of R60 000.00 or 5 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years.
Molebatsi, Angie	ANC Member of Parliament.	R714 618.00 as a MP.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud. Fined R25 000, or three years in jail, plus an additional five years suspended
Mona, Vusi	Acting Head of Communications: The Presidency.	Between R557 133.00 and R905 538.00 as a member of the Senior Management Service and depending on whether level 14 or 15.*** The DA has asked questions to determine his salary.	Conflict of Interest: As City Press editor: He was found to have direct interests in a public relations company Rainbow Kwanda Communications that was paid millions by the Mpumalanga government to rectify its scandal-ridden reputation at the time. Mona published a story handed to him by former Sunday Times journalist Ranjeni Munusamy (after being rejected by then Sunday Times editor Mathata Tsedu) alleging that former public prosecutions director Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. This led to the Hefer Commission of Inquiry of 2003 where Judge Hefer found the allegations against Ngcuka to have no factual basis and stated that, with regard to Vusi Mona, “The result was that, when the cross-examination ended, his credibility had been reduced to nil.” and “I am satisfied that he has discredited himself to such a degree in the newspaper community, that he will not find it easy to procure employment in that field again.” Mona eventually resigned as editor of the City Press due to his public relations links. Recent reports have alleged that Mona has been involved in a bribery scheme where his company Rainbow Kwanda Communications paid a substantial amount of money to provincial officials in order to secure a R32 million public relations tender from the Mpumalanga Government during 2003.
Ngobeni, Paul	Legal Advisor to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.	Between R615 633.00 and R1 355 756.00 as Special Advisor, depending on compensation level.** The DA has submitted a question to determine his salary.	Fugitive from Justice: Suspended from the roll and may never practice law again after being found guilty of seven counts of misconduct in Connecticut in the United States, where he is wanted by the law.
Sosibo, Jabu	ANC Member of Parliament; ANC whip for the Committees on the Auditor General, Constitutional Review, Ethics and Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions.	R791 985.00 as an MP and Whip.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud (R241 000). Fined R100 000 or five years jail, suspended for five years.
Thompson, Barbara	ANC Member of Parliament; Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disability.	R948 273.00 as an MP and Committee Chair.*	Travelgate MP: Pleaded guilty to one count of fraud (R170 000 service benefits/mileage claims) and was sentenced to a fine of R90 000.00 or 5 years imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment suspended conditionally for 5 years.
Tshabala-Msimang, Manto	ANC Member of Parliament.	R714 618.00 as a MP.*	Convicted of Theft: In 1976 Tshabala-Msimang was dismissed from Botswana’s Athlone Hospital, at Lobaste, near Gaborone, after she was convicted of stealing a watch from a patient. She served as superintendent of the hospital. She was expelled from the country and declared a prohibited immigrant. The former deputy head of personnel for the Botswana Central Civil Service, confirmed that in 1976 a psychiatrist wrote to him pleading for clemency for Tshabalala-Msimang, arguing she was a kleptomaniac being treated by him.
TOTAL ANNUAL COST			App. R13 817 473
TOTAL COST OVER FIVE YEARS			App. R69 087 365
* Based on the revised remuneration levels, as proposed by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers 2008/09, and accepted by Parliament.
** Based on the revised compensation levels for full time Special Advisors. See PDSA circular 13 February 2009, annexure A (http://www.dpsa.gov.za/documents/rp/2009/Ann_A_13_02_2009.pdf)
*** Based on Annexure C to DPSA Circular 1 of 2009. See here http://www.dpsa.gov.za/documents/rp/2009/1_18_4_23_01_2009_Annex%20C.pdf