Randy Desmond Pieterse (born 17 April 1956) is a South African politician and former

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

who represented the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 1999 to 2009, serving the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

constituency. He is a former provincial leader of the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union ...

(Cosatu) in the Western Cape. In 2006, he was convicted of stealing from

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the Travelgate scandal.

Early life and career

Born on 17 April 1956, Pieterse was formerly the head of the Western Cape branch of Cosatu.

Legislative career: 1999–2009

He joined the National Assembly in the 1999 general election and served two terms in his seat, gaining re-election in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He served the Western Cape constituency. Though he stood for re-election in the 2009 general election, he was ranked tenth on the ANC's party list for the Western Cape and narrowly failed to win a seat.

Travelgate

In August 2004, the

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

named Pieterse as among the numerous MPs who were under investigation for possible abuse of parliamentary air-travel vouchers, in what became known as Travelgate. Pieterse had allegedly allowed friends to use his vouchers at Parliament's expense. In October 2006, he signed a plea deal with the Scorpions, in terms of which he pled guilty to

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

in the

Cape High Court The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the ...

. The theft concerned an amount of R60,000 in service benefits and he was sentenced to pay a fine of R25,000 or serve three years' imprisonment; he was also sentenced to a mandatory five years' imprisonment, suspended conditionally. According to

IOL Cherchell () is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, west of Algiers. It is the seat of Cherchell District in Tipaza Province. Under the names Iol and Caesarea Mauretaniae, Caesarea, it was formerly a Colonia (Roman), Roman colony and th ...

, Pieterse was viewed as an example of a junior ANC MP who had been "'sacrificed' at the expense of the 'bigger fish'" who had not been prosecuted for their involvement. Speaking to his colleagues in the Portfolio Committee on Communications after his conviction, Pieterse said that he did not hold any grudges, saying, "I am not angry at anybody. I am angry at myself. I should have been more careful. I had to pay R25 000 for my lesson. I hope others can get the lesson free just by observing what I have done." However, he said that he would challenge any decision by the party or Parliament to remove him from his seat, since "My intention was never to

defraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

Parliament". He was not removed from his seat, but he and other convicted MPs received a formal reprimand from the Speaker of the National Assembly,

Baleka Mbete Baleka Mbete (born 24 September 1949) is a South African politician who was the Deputy President of South Africa from September 2008 to May 2009. She was also the Speaker of the National Assembly for two non-consecutive terms from 2004 to 2008 ...

, in March 2007.

References

Living people 1956 births African National Congress politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2004–2009 South African trade unionists South African politicians convicted of crimes {{DEFAULTSORT:Pieterse, Randy