Cape Town – Members of Parliament who did not meet the deadline to submit their financial interests and gifts will be given seven days to explain why they failed to do so.
The seven days will only come into effect once the members have received letters from the acting registrar of Parliament, who has not sent them out yet.
The register of members’ interests lists the financial interests of the members of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, and the gifts they have received.
Parliament’s ethics committee made the document public on Tuesday.
Committee co-chairperson Amos Masondo said 55 MPs had failed to meet the August 31 deadline, which was then extended to September 21.
Following the extension, the interests of 17 MPs were still outstanding. Two of those were new MPs who were only sworn in in September, while one was seriously ill.
"The joint committee resolved to condone the disclosures of the three members, while the remaining 14 members subsequently declared their financial interests."
The committee would investigate the non-compliance before deciding on any sanctions.
Acting registrar Ntuthuzelo Vanara said they would only disclose the names of the 14 members once they had been notified of the committee’s resolution to investigate the non-compliance.