Minister Tau under fire for controversial IDC board appointments

IOL News

4 days ago

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau says he will reply to specific questions from MPs at the meeting of the portfolio committee in connection with the appointment of the Industrial Development Corporation board members.
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Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau is digging in his heels in providing answers in connection with the appointment of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) board members.
This comes after Tau told DA MP Toby Chance and EFF MP Sinawo Thambo that his reply to specific questions will be provided at the meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition.
He stated that he had been invited to brief the portfolio committee on the appointment of the IDC board on July 22, but the meeting was postponed.
'Upon the rescheduling of the meeting, specific questions will be directly responded to during the meeting or after if there is still a need,' he said in his standard response.
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On Thursday, Chance accused Tau of being evasive and deviating from his usual detailed responses.
'He has provided no information at all; ministers are obligated to respond in writing to written questions, which is unsatisfactory,' said Chance.
'We normally get detailed responses from him. This time, he seems very evasive in not providing answers,' he added.
Last month, the Cabinet announced a new eight-member board for the IDC, which included ANC-aligned members such as former ministers Sydney Mufamadi and Ayanda Dlodlo, and former KwaZulu-Natal premier and now Higher Education Deputy Minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
The Cabinet had also appointed Sam Bhembe, who is reportedly involved in a court battle with the finance institution over a R70 million debt.
The IDC board appointments happened at a time when there was a public outcry over the appointment of chairpersons for the boards of Sector and Education Training Authorities, which have since been cancelled.
At the time, Thambo requested an urgent committee meeting, and committee chairperson Mzwandile Masina wrote to Tau indicating it was prudent that they receive a briefing on the process followed in the IDC board appointments.
Thambo also sent questions to Tau, wanting to know the process followed and the measures his department implemented to safeguard the IDC from undue political influence, among other things.
He had expressed concern about a pattern of compromised appointments that was a direct consequence of politically motivated deployments.
'The IDC must not be reduced to a retirement destination for politically connected individuals,' read Thambo's letter to Tau.
In his written questions, Chance enquired whether Dube-Ncube informed him she was due to be appointed to the BANKSETA when she was nominated to serve on the IDC board.
He also asked whether Tau found it problematic for good governance practice that a board member of an entity that reported would occupy multiple board positions simultaneously, and also enquired about the conflict of interest involving one of the appointed board members.
Chance said on Thursday it was concerning that ANC cadres were appointed to serve on the boards regardless their qualifications as if non-ANC people could not be found.
'Unfortunately, it forms a pattern that the ANC does not look beyond its own nursery. There are a lot of qualified people who are in business and who have investment experience. Those are people who should be on the board, not former and washed ANC politicians,' he said.
Chance added that he was interested in the conflict of interest that was not revealed involving one of the appointed board members.
'We don't know what that is,' he said.
Chance also said a lot was going on in the department, such as the appointment of Sizekhaya as the lottery licence operator and the 30% tariffs imposed by the US on South African goods.
'I think he has a lot on his plate… He has a lot of unanswered questions,' he said.
'I wrote to him and put a Promotion of Access to Information Act application last week to request the record of decisions by the evaluation and the adjudication committees on the reasons why they chose Sizekhaya. I have not received a response yet,' he said.
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