Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests has cleared four ANC MPs -- Thulas Nxesi, Cedric Frolick, Mosebenzi Zwane and Winnie Ngwenya -- after they were implicated in the State Capture report.

Fifteen months after the release of the fifth and final instalment of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's State Capture Inquiry report, which implicated several high-ranking politicians, Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests has cleared four senior ANC MPs.

Among them is Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi, who was fingered in Part 4 of the commission's report. He was accused of being among the "perceived politically connected people" who received payments from controversial businessman Edwin Sodi.

Sodi and his late business partner Ignatius "Igo" Mpambani formed a joint venture that scored the R255-million asbestos removal project in the Free State in 2014.

Sodi's business, Blackhead Consulting, was also among several companies involved in a similar asbestos project in Gauteng, both of which were a sham.

In his defence, Nxesi provided the committee with an affidavit stating that the payments were not for his gain but for fundraising purposes, which tallied with Sodi's explanation of the payments, as he had not provided any goods or services to Blackhead.

"The member clarified that his name appeared as a reference for the payment but that the payment was not made to him. Rather, the payment was the result of a fund-raising initiative...