Govt: 'Directorships' defunct

2006-03-20 08:28

Pretoria - Most of the undeclared business interests of cabinet ministers and their deputies were in companies that no longer existed, the presidency said on Sunday.

"A preliminary investigation indicated that most of the directorships found to have been undeclared involved defunct or dormant companies that aren't operating, or companies from which they had resigned," spokesperson Murphy Morobe said.

He was responding to a Sunday Times report which said that 14 cabinet ministers, including deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, had violated the parliamentary code of conduct. This after they failed to declare directorships in private companies and closed corporations.

In a recent report the Auditor-General found some 50 000 public servants across 142 departments had failed to declare their business interests, DA chief whip Douglas Gibson told parliament on Friday.

AG Shauket Fakie reported that the list included 14 cabinet ministers and deputies.

Morobe said in several cases the names of public servants concerned still remained on the register of companies some time after they had asked them to be removed. This was because of the time required to process such requests.

He said the presidency would comment in greater detail during the course of the week.

- SAPA