The DA welcomes President Zuma’s dismissal of former Minister Sicelo Shiceka for violating the Constitution and Executive Ethics Act through multiple trips overseas and lavish hotel stays, all at public expense. This marks an important step in showing that executive members of government are not above the law and that they must be held accountable for their actions.

Now that Mr Shiceka has been removed from office, the remedial work of undoing the damage he has caused can begin. That starts with implementing one of the crucial corrective actions that the Public Protector recommended in her report, that of recovering the money from Shiceka.

The Public Protector recommended that the Director-General (DG) of the Department of Co-operative Governance “take the appropriate action to recover from Mr Shiceka the expenditure incurred by the Department” for his trips to Switzerland, his stays at the five-star One & Only Hotel in Cape Town and the travelling expenses incurred for hosting a guest at the hotel. That totals about R840,000 – roughly the cost of 15 RDP houses.

While the President has taken a significant step by firing Mr Shiceka, the DG of Co-operative Governance, Mr Elroy Africa, must now follow through and retrieve the funds lost to Shiceka’s wasteful and unethical expenditure. This will send a strong message to all who handle public funds that they are accountable to the public.

Today I will be writing parliamentary questions to the new Minister of Co-operative Governance, Richard Baloyi, asking him what measures his department is taking to recover the money that Shiceka misspent during his tenure as Minister.