Mondli Gungubele refutes claims he’s dodging Parliament over SSA vetting delays

Mondli Gungubele refutes claims he’s dodging Parliament over SSA vetting delays

Mondli Gungubele refutes claims he’s dodging Parliament over SSA vetting delays

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele is refuting accusations that he is evading Parliament on vetting delays at the State Security Agency (SSA).

Gungubele, who is also the minister in charge of the spy agency, was a no-show at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) last month, to brief the committee on the vetting of Eskom employees.

On Friday, Gungubele said that he was caught between a rock and a hard place and that in fact, he was always keen to be interrogated by Parliament.

Answering questions on sabotage-related arrests at Eskom at Friday morning’s post-Cabinet briefing, Gungubele said that it was for this very reason that he desperately wanted to account to Parliament on the vetting of Eskom employees.

“I’ve got a genuine concern about the state of that. But what people don’t understand is once two portfolio committees in Parliament have two contradicting opinions on how we should account as ministers, you need that to be clarified so that when you act, it’s in line with the law.”

Traditionally, the State Security Agency reports to Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence, one of only a few, closed to the public.

This week, Parliament’s legal advisors said that this did not prohibit Gungubele from also presenting himself to Scopa.

“They know if there’s something I enjoy, it’s accounting. Sometimes I go to account when they are not available.”

Gungubele said that he hoped the matter could be resolved soon because it was not about him not wanting to appear.

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