Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota will be charged by the ruling African National Congress with the "very serious" matter of bringing the party, which he chairs, into disrepute by failing to fully declare his business interests to parliament.

Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests late last week found Lekota guilty of "negligence" in failing to comply with the code of conduct for MPs by failing to disclose his business interests. Lekota immediately owned up to his breach of the code.

The committee recommended that Lekota be fined the equivalent of a week's salary - about R14 000 - and that Ginwala send Lekota a written reprimand.

The national assembly is to deal with the matter this week.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said the party's national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend had referred Lekota's case to its National Disciplinary Committee, chaired by education minister Kader Asmal.

"He's got to appear before the NDC," Motlanthe told the Cape Times yesterday, adding that a hearing would take place "as soon as the NDC is able to prefer charges and a date is given."

"On the basis of the ANC constitution, he has transgressed a number of clauses," said Motlanthe, including "bringing the name of the ANC into disrepute".

He said all MPs were obliged to abide by parliament's ethics code. The fact that Lekota was the party's national chairman made the breach "more serious".

President Thabo Mbeki may also this week consider whether to report Lekota's misconduct to the Public Protector, but his office will only deal with the issue once national assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala has reprimanded Lekota, as recommended by parliament's ethics committee.

Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, said yesterday the presidency would only consider Lekota's breach of the ethical conventions for members of the executive once the parliamentary process was completed.

The ANC has in recent months been besieged by several scandals involving its top brass, including the fraud conviction against Tony Yengeni, the party's former chief whip in parliament, and more recently Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's conviction on fraud and theft charges.

But political analyst Steven Friedman was quick to point out that Lekota's case should not be equated with those of Yengeni and Madikizela-Mandela.

"This continual claim that there's no difference between Lekota on the one hand, and Winnie and Yengeni on the other, is incorrect - there is a difference," said Friedman, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg.

Lekota did not disclose information about his business interests, which he should have, and he should be sanctioned for that, according to Friedman.

"But its not the same as being convicted in a court of theft or fraud, which is the case in the other two."

Lekota was not available for comment.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Michaels and the Cape Times.