Cape Town : President Thabo Mbeki has accepted public protector Lawrence Mushwana's findings that Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota should not be punished further for failing to declare his business interests either to Parliament or the cabinet.

Lekota was disciplined by National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala and fined a week's wages for failing to declare shares in businesses in his declaration of member's interests.

The original complainant, Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Douglas Gibson, referred the matter to Mushwana as well, because it was a contravention of the Executive Ethics Act.

Last week the disciplinary committee of the African National Congress reprimanded Lekota and fined him R5000. Yesterday Mbeki said in a letter to Ginwala that he accepted Mushwana's findings that Lekota had already been punished.

In his report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, Mushwana said that according to the law he had to investigate Gibson's complaint. He said that it was not in dispute that Lekota failed to disclose his interests but these were the same as those he had failed to declare to Parliament and no further omissions could be found.

"It was not the intention of the legislature that ministers, in circumstances of failure to disclose financial interests, should be sanctioned twice, and therefore the presumption that the legislature did not intend an unjust and unfair or unreasonable result or consequence, should be applied.

"The kind of businesses conducted by the kind of private enterprises in which minister Lekota holds financial interests are quite remote from the performance of his functions as the minister of defence and as a member of cabinet. His financial interests therefore do not pose a potential threat of a conflict of interest arising," Mushwana said.

Gibson said he was disappointed in the "pat on the back" Mbeki and Mushwana had now given Lekota.

"Executive members and cabinet members have a far higher obligation than ordinary MPs. They are bound not only by the parliamentary code of conduct, but also the executive ethics code. The joint committee on members' interests fined Lekota as an ordinary MP. It was not influenced by the fact that he is also a minister," Gibson said.

"MPs may have interests as long as they declare them. Ministers have a much broader and stronger sphere of influence, which might extend beyond their official duties and portfolios. Therefore the requirements of transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest are far more stringent."

Gibson said the ruling would encourage ministers to accept directorships and financial benefits and merely declare them. He said he would propose a private member's bill.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and the Business Day.