The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interest is a
joint committee of the
Parliament of South Africa
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...
that deals with the ethical conduct of Members of Parliament and the disclosure of their financial interests. Its primary function is to promote and oversee the implementation of the parliamentary code of conduct, including by publishing the annual Register of Members' Interests and conducting disciplinary hearings to investigate allegations of misconduct by Members of Parliament.
In the
27th Parliament, the Committee comprises 14 members from the
National Assembly and nine delegates from the
National Council of Provinces. On 11 September 2019,
Bekizwe Nkosi
Bekizwe Simon "Bheki" Nkosi (born 19 June 1964) is a South African politician who current represents the African National Congress (ANC) as a National Assembly of South Africa, Member of the National Assembly since 2019 South African general elec ...
(of the National Assembly) and
Lydia Moshodi (of the National Council of Provinces) were elected as its co-chairpersons.
History and activities
The committee was established in 1999 at the outset of the
23rd Parliament in a merger between the Committee on Ethics (spearheaded by
Kader Asmal) and the Committee on Members' Interests.
Bernard Ncube was the inaugural chairperson, with
Lawrence Mushwana
Adv Lawrence Mabendle Mushwana (born 3 March 1948) was the Public Protector of South Africa before advocate Thuli Madonsela succeeded him. Mushwana was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki from October 2002 until October 2009.
Mushwana is a lawyer ...
as her deputy.
Since then, the committee has held several high-profile proceedings, including disciplinary investigations into the conduct of
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Deputy President
Jacob Zuma
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...
,
Yolanda Botha
Yolanda Rachel Botha (died 28 December 2014) was a South African politician and public servant who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 2009 until her death in December 2014. She also served as Provincial ...
,
and
Dina Pule. In such cases, the Committee makes disciplinary findings and recommends sanctions, but these must be adopted by Parliament in a plenary before they are implemented. The committee has sometimes been criticised as being overly lax in enforcing disciplinary standards.
List of chairpersons
Since the outset of the
25th Parliament in 2009, the committee has had two co-chairpersons, one representing the National Assembly and one representing the National Council of Provinces. To date, all chairpersons have been members of the
African National Congress (ANC), the national governing party.
References
External links
Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interestsat Parliament of South Africa
Ethics and Members' Interestat Parliamentary Monitoring Group
{{RSAParliamentCommittees, state=collapsed
Committees of the Parliament of South Africa