Parliament has decided that Home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula does not need to explain to South Africans why agriculture’s deputy director general and acting Bank CEO Dr Phil Mohlahlane can keep using a cancelled identity document, even though it’s illegal for anyone else to do so. T he Identification Act states it’s an offence to possess an old ID document once a new one has been issued, or possess an identity document with incorrect particulars.
When the Democratic Alliance submitted written questions to Mapisa-Nqakula about whether she was aware of Dr Mohlahlane’s illegal use of a cancelled document, parliament blocked the query, claiming it contained unsubstantiated allegations likely to harm his character. “Accordingly, our office cannot permit such information to be published or put it in the public domain,” parliament said. Parliament’s position is puzzling, especially since the issue had already been raised at a committee meeting two days earlier. Referring to Dr Mohlahlane’s possession of two identity documents and his use of one to buy land, ANC MP Salamuddi Abram said the intelligence services should vet future senior appointments in the Land Bank.
Yet Farmer’s Weekly and several other media are in possession of documents that prove Mohlahlane registered companies, opened bank accounts and bought properties on an document years after it had been cancelled by Affairs because it contained the wrong birth date. Parliament’s move will simply fuel speculation about political interference in attempts at cleaning up the ailing Land Bank, which has been rocked by a series of financial scandals in the last year and faces the flight of major wholesale clients with loanbooks worth billions. L ast year, Cabinet’s decision to institute criminal proceedings against senior executives implicated in financial wrongdoing, including fraud and unauthorised loans worth almost R1 billion, was rescinded on the eve of the conference in Polokwane. The forensic report has apparently been put on ice and no action has been taken by police or prosecuting authorities.
Farmer’s Weekly’s exposure of Mohlahlane appears headed the same way. When alerted in December 2007, confirmed it was illegal for Mohlahlane to be using the cancelled ID. “It is, in fact, criminal,” departmental spokesperson Mantshele Tau said. he Home counter-corruption unit later confirmed it was investigating the case, but appears no closer to concluding it months later, despite being provided with documentary proof that its laws had been broken. he inaction displayed by Home Affairs is unfathomable, especially since it lists security and corruption-busting as central pillars of its turnaround strategy, which was launched with much fanfare last year. H ome did not respond when asked if its investigation had been concluded and whether the case had been forwarded to the police. – Stephan Hofstätter
