Scopa rejects Gungubele cold shoulder, demands feedback on vetting senior public servants

Parliament’s public accounts watchdog Scopa will again invite minister in the presidency responsible for state security Mondli Gungubele to appear before the committee to account for delays in vetting senior government and Eskom officials.

The State Security Agency (SSA) declined to appear before Scopa last week, citing secrecy and saying the agency would only account to parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI).

MPs were not convinced and legal opinion Scopa sought confirmed there was no reason for the SSA not to account to the committee.

“We will write to the minister responsible for state security and inform him the committee doesn’t agree with his position and invite him again to appear before the committee, and failing thereof, advise him we reserve the right to issue summons,” Scopa chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa said on Wednesday.

“It will be a last resort but if we need to invoke it, we will invoke it. The committee will invoke and exercise its right to subpoena.”

They want him to appear on November 30.

The SSA was supposed to brief Scopa on November 9 about a 2014 cabinet directive which requires the vetting of officials in state entities, especially those who work in supply-chain management and Eskom officials.

Hlengwa said at the November 9 meeting the SSA wanted to report to the JSCI, whose meetings are closed to the media and the public. The Scopa hearings which the SSA refuses to participate in are open to the public.

MPs noted it was not without precedent that SSA ministers appeared before the committee to talk about the same matter.

Then state security minister Bongani Bongo appeared with his then director-general Arthur Fraser in December 2017. Two years later, Ayanda Dlodlo also appeared before Scopa where she revealed about 100 Eskom senior officials were not vetted.

“There is no reason in law which automatically precludes Scopa from considering the financial statements and related matters of the SSA as per the oversight functions of Scopa,” reads the legal opinion provided to Scopa.

“Whereas the SSA may cite confidentiality as a reason not to account to Scopa as meetings of Scopa are held openly, whereas meetings of the JSCI are closed, there is no reason in law why Scopa cannot close its meetings for purposes of conducting financial oversight over matters related to the SSA if the closure is justified.”

Closure would only be necessary if the SSA could demonstrate the divulgence of information could reasonably be expected to prejudice the defence, security or international relations of the republic.

The advice concludes: “Scopa is empowered by law to request the update on the vetting of employees of SOEs. This is a matter that pertains to a range of committees, including the portfolio committee on public enterprises.

“To argue that such update is part of ‘accountability to the JSCI’, as the minister is doing, could lead to a situation inconsistent with the constitution and the requirement to maintain oversight of all organs of state.

“Should the minister refuse to report to Scopa, Scopa may initiate the process to summon the minister to provide the information.”

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