Probe shows Parliament bungle
3 July 2009, 15:45
By Gaye Davis
As Parliament's secretary Zingile Dingani prepares to return to work after being cleared of the misconduct charges that led to his being suspended for three months, it has emerged that Parliament failed to make out its case against him.
Dingani's disciplinary inquiry was chaired by Advocate Kgomotso Moroka. Her findings reveal apparent bungling of the case on the part of Parliament.
Key witnesses were not called - including the presiding officers who placed Dingani on special leave.
Moroka in her findings also highlights a failure on the part of Parliament to understand the elementary legal principle that it was up to Parliament to prove Dingani's guilt, rather than for him to prove his innocence.
The case has left Parliament with egg on its face and a huge legal bill, while the secrecy surrounding the process has given the opposition DA the opportunity to ask why Parliament, which insists on accountability and transparency from the executive arm of government, is not demanding the same standards of itself.
When Dingani was suspended, Parliament said in a statement that the charges against him were linked to a probe (by audit firm KPMG) into the activities of another top official, Lulama Matyolo-Dube, secretary of the national council of provinces and head of Parliament's legal services.
DA chief whip Ian Davidson said yesterday that he was not surprised Moroka had found Dingani not guilty on all counts.
"The truth is that Parliament's case was put in such an incompetent manner that I believe she had no option but to make the finding that she did," he said.
Davidson said there were three possible conclusions he could make: "Either there was no real evidence to lead, or the advocate prosecuting the case was incompetent, or that the case had been deliberately sabotaged by officials sympathetic to the secretary."
"My concern is that if I am correct, then Advocate Mat-yolo-Dube, the real subject of the KPMG report, will likewise escape successful prosecution," Davidson said.
As Parliament's secretary Zingile Dingani prepares to return to work after being cleared of the misconduct charges that led to his being suspended for three months, it has emerged that Parliament failed to make out its case against him.
Dingani's disciplinary inquiry was chaired by Advocate Kgomotso Moroka. Her findings reveal apparent bungling of the case on the part of Parliament.
Key witnesses were not called - including the presiding officers who placed Dingani on special leave.
Moroka in her findings also highlights a failure on the part of Parliament to understand the elementary legal principle that it was up to Parliament to prove Dingani's guilt, rather than for him to prove his innocence.
The case has left Parliament with egg on its face and a huge legal bill, while the secrecy surrounding the process has given the opposition DA the opportunity to ask why Parliament, which insists on accountability and transparency from the executive arm of government, is not demanding the same standards of itself.
When Dingani was suspended, Parliament said in a statement that the charges against him were linked to a probe (by audit firm KPMG) into the activities of another top official, Lulama Matyolo-Dube, secretary of the national council of provinces and head of Parliament's legal services.
DA chief whip Ian Davidson said yesterday that he was not surprised Moroka had found Dingani not guilty on all counts.
"The truth is that Parliament's case was put in such an incompetent manner that I believe she had no option but to make the finding that she did," he said.
Davidson said there were three possible conclusions he could make: "Either there was no real evidence to lead, or the advocate prosecuting the case was incompetent, or that the case had been deliberately sabotaged by officials sympathetic to the secretary."
"My concern is that if I am correct, then Advocate Mat-yolo-Dube, the real subject of the KPMG report, will likewise escape successful prosecution," Davidson said.
- This article was originally published on page 5 of The Cape Argus on July 03, 2009
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