ANC delaying start of Nkandla ad hoc committee undermines Office of the Speaker
The DA is outraged by the ANC's attempts to delay the start of the ad hoc committee, which the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, established last week following my request to investigate the Nkandla scandal.
We have confirmed this morning that the ANC have yet to submit the names of their members who will serve on the committee - more than four days after it was announced.
Until this happens, and all names are reflected in Parliament's Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC) document, the ad hoc committee cannot begin its work.
I have sent an urgent letter to Mr Sisulu to urge him to take every step possible to ensure the committee is called to meet this week.
Indeed, since the ad hoc committee must report back to Parliament by 30 April 2014, time is of the essence.
To delay it by just one day is to undermine the important task it must complete in a very short period of time.
The ANC is clearly running scared and now doing everything possible to protect President Zuma.
They know that it is impossible to defend the spending of nearly R250 million of public money to build President Zuma a palace in Nkandla. They know too that the powers of the committee are such that it will be able to force answers - which to date President Zuma refuses to provide.
This delay is a great disservice to Parliament and the constitution, and undermines the Office of the Speaker - who established this committee, with a clear indication that it must start its work "as soon as possible".
It is moreover a continuation of the all-out effort to protect President Zuma, which saw the DA's #Ayisafani advert banned from the SABC - because it told South Africans the truth about the ANC under Jacob Zuma.
The DA will not sit back while this flagrant attack on Parliament's powers is launched by the ANC in Parliament. We will continue to do everything possible to ensure President Zuma is made to answer for the condemnable abuse of public money at his private residence in Nkandla.
Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance, April 14 2014
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