The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) will be meeting today to discuss the president’s written response to a leaked audio. In the leaked audio the president suggests that he has knowledge of public funds being used for political gain.
ANC MP Mervyn Dirks was sanctioned after he had written to the chairperson of SCOPA asking for the committee to interrogate the conduct of the president. Dirks was suspended and later removed by the parliamentary caucus.
The leaked audio was recorded at the ANC national executive committee meeting last year. In the leaked audio, the president can be heard talking about the use of public funds and the contest within the ANC. He admits that he is aware of the of the misuse of public funds and suggests that they come from the Security State Agency (SSA).
In the submitted letter by the president to SCOPA, he says he relied on information in the public that ANC misuses public funds for political gain. This is the reason he made that statement. He denies having had any direct knowledge of public funds being misused for political gain within the ANC.
Mkhuleko Hlengwa, the chairperson of SCOPA, confirmed that he had received a written response from the president on Thursday. The written response will be tabled today before the parliamentary watchdog.
In a statement Hlengwa confirmed that the Public Protector had been approached to investigate the matter. She is already set to investigate the audio to determine whether the president has breached his own oath of office.
Source
The South African, Eyewitness News, News24, image from Eyewitness News
