Wikipedian hubThe Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interest is a joint committee of the Parliament of South Africa that deals with the ethical conduct of Members of Parliament and the disclosure of their financial interests. Its primary function is to promote and oversee the implementation of the parliamentary code of conduct, including by publishing the annual Register of Members' Interests and conducting disciplinary hearings to investigate allegations of misconduct by Members of Parliament.
In the 27th Parliament, the Committee comprises 14 members from the National Assembly and nine delegates from the National Council of Provinces.[1] On 14 November 2024, Lusizo Makhubela-Mashele (of the National Assembly) and Henni Britz (of the National Council of Provinces) were elected as its co-chairpersons.
The committee was established in 1999 at the outset of the 23rd Parliament in a merger between the Committee on Ethics (spearheaded by Kader Asmal)[2] and the Committee on Members' Interests. Bernard Ncube was the inaugural chairperson, with Lawrence Mushwana as her deputy.[3]
Since then, the committee has held several high-profile proceedings, including disciplinary investigations into the conduct of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela,[4] Deputy President Jacob Zuma,[5] Yolanda Botha,[6] and Dina Pule.[7] In such cases, the Committee makes disciplinary findings and recommends sanctions, but these must be adopted by Parliament in a plenary before they are implemented. The committee has sometimes been criticised as being overly lax in enforcing disciplinary standards.[6][8]
Since the outset of the 25th Parliament in 2009, the committee has had two co-chairpersons, one representing the National Assembly and one representing the National Council of Provinces. The following people have served as chairpersons of the committee.
| Session | National Assembly | National Council of Provinces | Election date | Citation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28th Parliament | Lusizo Makhubela-Mashele | ANC | Henni Britz | DA | 14 November 2024 | [9] | ||
| 27th Parliament | Bekizwe Nkosi | ANC | Lydia Moshodi | ANC | 11 September 2019 | [10] | ||
| 26th Parliament | Humphrey Maxegwana | ANC | Omie Singh | ANC | 25 October 2018 | [11] | ||
| Amos Masondo | ANC | 8 July 2014 | [12] | |||||
| 25th Parliament | Ben Turok | ANC | Buoang Mashile | ANC | 8 February 2011 | [13] | ||
| Luwellyn Landers | ANC | 27 August 2009 | [14] | |||||
| 24th Parliament | Luwellyn Landers | ANC | None | 25 June 2004 | [15] | |||
| 23rd Parliament | Bernard Ncube | ANC | None | 11 October 1999 | [3] | |||
