Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Dr Igor Scheurkogel MP.
The Democratic Alliance has laid a complaint with the Public Protector against the former Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sihle Zikalala (now Deputy Minister), over his agreement, support and Caninet ratification of the former chairperson of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) Board of Trustees – an appointment the DA sees as unlawful, and a process we see as a violation of the Executive Ethics Code.
Zikalala allowed Advocate Kwazikwenkosi Mshengu to be elected as Chairperson of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) Board of Trustees in contradiction of the Trust Deed, and then placed it before Cabinet for approval. Mshengu previously served as the ANC MEC of Education in KwaZulu-Natal in Zikalala’s Cabinet when he was Premier of that Province.
On 7 September 2023, then-Minister Zikalala appointed Adv. Mshengu as an ordinary trustee of the IDT expressly in terms of clause 8.2.1 of the Trust Deed, the provision reserved for trustees appointed directly by the Executive Authority.
Confirmation of Mshengu’s appointment to the Board of Trustees being under clause 8.2.1 is contained in a letter the Trust sent to the Master, after his appointment as a trustee on 9 October 2023.
The IDT Board then elected Adv. Mshengu as its Chairperson on 6 November 2023.
Yet clause 14.5 of the IDT’s Trust Deed disallowed this election and appointment. Clause 14.5 provides that: trustees appointed to the Board under clause 8.2.1 are expressly prohibited from holding the office of Chairperson.
Rather than correcting an obviously unlawful step, former-Minister Zikalala wrote to the IDT on 27 November 2023 to formally concur with the appointment. The former Minister approved an appointment in direct contradiction of the IDT’s own Trust Deed and prohibitions therein.
Advocate Mshengu received an appointment letter, as Chairperson of the IDT Board of Trustees, before the trust instruction and before Cabinet confirmed his appointment.
Worse still, Zikalala may have misled Cabinet in its consideration of Mshengu as IDT Board Chairperson, by not disclosing that Mshengu served on the Board under clause 8.2.1 – making him ineligible to become Chairperson.
The DA’s complaint to the Public Protector, lodged in terms of section 4(1)(a) of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, 1998 and section 6(1)(b) of the Public Protector Act, 1994, sets out a clear breach of the IDT’s Trust Deed that former-Minister Zikalala not only permitted, but actively endorsed in writing.
Members of Cabinet swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and the law; deliberately or negligently disregarding a prohibition in the founding document of a public entity in their Portfolio is irreconcilable with that oath.
The DA has accordingly requested that the Public Protector:
• investigate whether the former Minister’s concurrence in Adv. Mshengu’s appointment as Chairperson contravened the prohibition in clause 14.5 of the Trust Deed;
• investigate whether Adv. Mshengu’s acceptance of the Chairpersonship, knowing he was precluded from holding it, was equally unlawful;
• determine whether the conduct constitutes maladministration, improper conduct in state affairs and/or a breach of the Executive Ethics Code;
• establish whether any chairperson’s remuneration was paid to Adv. Mshengu irregularly and should be repaid to the IDT;
• report any breach of the Executive Ethics Code to the President in terms of section 3(2)(a) of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act, 1998; and
• impose appropriate remedial action.
The IDT exists to deliver social infrastructure to poor communities, and it cannot do that credibly while its leadership rests on an unlawful foundation.
Accountability is not negotiable, and no Minister (current or former) stands above the law.