Cape Town - National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is expected to announce by no later than Friday whether UCT Professor Richard Calland will be replaced on the three-member panel established to determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer in respect of the Phala Phala farm theft scandal.
This emerged when she briefed the programme committee on legal advice she had obtained following objections from the DA and the EFF on Calland’s inclusion in the panel.
The parties say Calland had repeatedly and openly declared his support for Ramaphosa through a series of tweets, including ones in which he praised Ramaphosa for showing up at the hotly contested KwaZulu-Natal elective conference, where he wrote: “Credit to @CyrilRamaphosa for going there and not chickening out. “Exposes them for the ill-disciplined,sell-out, counter-revolutionary rabble they are.”
“@CyrilRamaphosa is much more compelling. He is looking them in the eye and calling their bluff.”
He also shared his views on the Farmgate scandal he was chosen to probe when commenting on Ramaphosa’s refusal to answer questions on it in Parliament: “It’s a tactical blunder of note. @CyrilRamaphosa will be hoist (sic) by his own process petard in this case. It just looks shady; like he has something significant to hide. It looks weak.”
Mapisa-Nqakula said due diligence had been conducted before the appointment of Calland, retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, and former Gauteng Division high court judge Thokozile Masipa to the panel.
“It was just unfortunate that the team from Parliament did not pick up this particular challenge raised by the EFF and the DA.
“In fact, the issue at hand with regard to the professor is that, indeed, he is a legal person and, secondly, indeed he is an independent commentator and, therefore, he is somebody you would say has challenges in how he does his work.”
Despite this, she said she had no doubt that the candidates appointed to the panel were people of integrity.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the candidates selected are fit and proper persons, are people knowledgeable legally, and are people whose integrity is unquestionable,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
The panel is a response to the motion tabled by African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula after former State Security Agency boss Arthur Fraser lodged a criminal complaint alleging Ramaphosa had committed serious crimes.
These included bribery, money laundering, kidnapping, breaching of customs and excise laws, breaching of Sars regulations, contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and defeating the ends of justice.
ATM said in its motion that Ramaphosa had violated the Constitution, which provides that cabinet members should not “undertake any other paid work”.
The GOOD party, which nominated Calland, has motivated for him to remain on the panel.
Mapisa-Nqakula has since sought legal advice on the implications of Calland being removed from or kept on the panel.
“That legal opinion has since come back and, of course, I will act on the advice given to me,” she said.
Mapisa-Nqakula also said the legal opinion had advised that Parliament should consider other available candidates should it continue to receive the names of people to fill the third vacancy.
“I will make a pronouncement, perhaps not later than tomorrow, (about) what we are going to do and the replacement of Professor Calland,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
She said she would not come back to parties to communicate her decision, as the rules did not provide for that.
“The point is (that) we cannot delay this process any further.
“The rules give 30 days within which they (the independent panel) should complete the work and submit it to the Speaker,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
She noted with concern that a number of the nominees were not available to serve on the panel for various reasons.
“A number of those who were nominated were completely taken by surprise when we approached them,” she said.
Cape Times