Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau has dismissed as “disingenuous” calls for the exclusion of individuals with links to the African National Congress (ANC) from being appointed to the board of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

At its meeting on June 25, Cabinet named the following appointments to the board of the State-owned development finance institution, subject to the verification of qualifications and relevant security clearances: Dr Gloria Serobe (chairperson); Reon Barnard; Sam Bhembe; Tanya Cohen; Ayanda Dlodlo; Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube; Dr Keitumetse Mothibeli; and Dr Sydney Mufamadi.

Following the release of the names on June 26, a statement was issued indicating that the Cabinet Office had been made aware that one of the appointees had a conflict of interest and that the matter would be rectified at the next Cabinet meeting.

The identity of the individual was not provided, but an IDC media statement issued on June 27 to welcome the new board members made no mention of Sam Bhembe, a previous client of the institution, who had once been involved in a legal dispute with the IDC.

Political attention, however, had focused primarily on Ayanda Dlodlo, Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Dr Sydney Mufamadi, given their well-known associations with the ANC. Dlodlo and Mufamadi are former Cabinet Ministers, while Dube-Ncube is a former KwaZulu-Natal Premier.

The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) expressed immediate concern over the three appointments, and has even threatened legal action.

During a debate following Tau’s Budget Vote speech on July 4, EFF MP Chumani Matiwane criticised what he described as the use of “strategic entities to enrich political allies”, specifically naming Dlodlo, Dube-Ncube and Mufamadi.

Despite being part of one of the parties participating in the Government of National Unity, Democratic Alliance MP Toby Chance juxtaposed the performance of Andrew Whitfield, who was recently dismissed as Trade, Industry and Competition Deputy Minister for undertaking an unauthorised trip to the US, against “members of the executive feathering their own nests”.

While also highlighting the three appointees, alongside Gloria Serobe, who he described as an ANC stalwart, he questioned how Tau could expect South Africans to view the appointees as “anything other than ANC deployees, instructed to do the party’s work”.

In response, Tau highlighted Mufamadi’s qualification and experience as an “industrial economist” and Dlodlo’s experience as an executive director at the World Bank.

“There is a problem when we sit in Parliament and say to society that Dr Sydney Mufamadi, who is an industrial economist, simply because of his affiliation to the ANC is not legitimate to serve on a board – he’s an industrial economist, he lectures in this subject.

“You cannot say that a person who has served in the World Bank, in the form of Ayanda Dlodlo, is not eligible to sit on the board, because then you are not taking advantage of the skills you have created as a country and the exposure of the people of your country to particular platforms.

“It is disingenuous to simply suggest that capability is limited by the fact that you are affiliated to the ANC,” he said to audible protests from the opposition benches.