Cape Town - The African National Congress’ parliamentary chief whip confirmed on Thursday that former minister of public enterprises Lynne Brown had resigned as a member of parliament.
Her resignation ends a four year spell at the National Assembly as an MP and minister. Her resignation comes about a week after Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that she had unwittingly misled Parliament on Trillian and Eskom's business relations.
Her resignation also comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa removed the former minister from his cabinet and replaced her with former finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
The Democratic Alliance has called for Brown’s head since it emerged that she failed to disclose business interests between Eskom and the Gupta linked Trillian. ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said in a statement that he had received and registered her resignation from the legislature.
“She has expressed her gratitude in having served the people of South Africa and thanked the ANC for having given her the opportunity to do so. We are confident that she will continue serving the country and our movement in other capacities in future. We wish her well,” said Mthembu.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse said Brown’s ouster was a long time coming as they group had been calling for her dismissal for well over a year.
The organisation last year released a dossier of legal and financial documents pointing to the plunder of state entities and what has come to be known as state capture, asking that Parliament look into their evidence or that the executive act on it.
“While we were relieved to see Brown removed from her ministerial position during this week’s cabinet reshuffle, the damage caused by her inefficiency during her tenure has had significant impact on state owned enterprises which will be felt for some time,” Outa said in a statement.
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