Parliament responds to misleading statements on strengthening of its protection services

2 August 2015

Parliament notes with concern various media coverage on the strengthening of its Protection Services. The National Assembly has adopted Rules aimed at ensuring the smooth running of House sittings. In arriving at the new Rules, Members identified that the Parliamentary Protection Services (PPS) would play a key role in implementing the new Rules.

The administration of Parliament is guided by the decisions of the two Houses of Parliament. Improving capacity of the PPS is purely an administrative function that falls under the Secretary to Parliament, who is the head of administration and its accounting officer. The official’s sole purpose is to provide support to all Members of Parliament and to implement all the administrative decisions of the Houses and other decision-making structures. Officials of Parliament are, therefore, not policy makers. The decision to strengthen the capacity of the PPS is a case in point. 

The administration of Parliament distances itself from alleged reports that suggest that it has the power to question, change or reject the decisions of the policy making structures of Parliament. 

The role of the administration is to support the decision-making structures in their work and to ensure that these decisions are implemented. 

The staff of Parliament remains a professional administration available to all the Members of the parties that constitute Parliament. 

Parliament wishes to put on record that all its officials are subjected to the rigor of interviews by well constituted panels including its accounting officer. Suggestions that professional staff are aligned to any office-bearer, political party or Member are devoid of all truth. Parliament officials will continue to focus on the work at hand, to rebuild an effective and efficient administration that responds to the needs of the Members of Parliament.

Parliament wishes to reiterate that the precautionary suspension of the head and the deputy head of the PPS remains an administrative matter and any other interpretation of this decision by various media is unfortunate, misleading and improper.

Statement issued by Parliament of South Africa, August 2 2015