Parliament Secretary Investigation Delayed by Committee

Statement by Rikus Badenhorst MP – DA NCOP member of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament:

The DA is fighting for transparency in the matter of the salary hike, recruitment process and governance concerns of the Secretary to Parliament, Xolile George, because for almost three months redacted documents have been kept from committee members interrogating this matter.

I have now written to the co-chairpersons of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament (JSCFMP), protesting this long and unacceptable delay – and I have demanded undertakings that the relevant documents are provided to members of parliament overseeing this matter. We are being kept in the dark.

It was recorded in the officially approved minutes of the JSCFMP meeting held on 04 March 2026, and formally approved at the Committee meeting of 26 May 2026, that documents must be supplied to the committee.

As early as 04 March 2026 minutes of the Committee reflect that the Committee was to receive pertinent documents (redacted for certain privacy issues) for our scrutiny and then for us to deliberate and decide the way forward for this serious matter.

Importantly, the approved minutes make clear that committee members will need adequate time to study the documentation before deliberations could commence. The Speaker of the National Assembly herself specifically indicated that Members would require time to study the documents before the Committee could properly proceed with deliberations on the matter.

Despite these undertakings now forming part of the official approved Committee record, Members have yet to receive these important documents or any clarity regarding when the redacted documents will be made available.

My letter to the Co-Chairpersons requests confirmation on:

• When Members will receive access to the redacted submission relating to the remuneration and appointment processes concerning Mr George; and
• When deliberations on the matter are intended to be scheduled following Members being afforded adequate opportunity to study the documents.

The DA maintains that the remuneration of the Secretary to Parliament is a matter of significant public interest involving public funds, governance integrity and Parliament’s own credibility as an oversight institution.

The DA is very concerned that oversight processes lose legitimacy when Members of Parliament are expected to deliberate on matters of this magnitude without proper access to documentation or sufficient opportunity to apply their minds to the contents thereof. This matter will not be swept under the carpet on the watch of the DA.

The DA will continue to insist on transparency, proper governance processes and meaningful parliamentary oversight regarding the remuneration and appointment of the Secretary to Parliament.