Parliamentary Leaders' Committee must urgently restore Parliament's integrity

18 November 2014

The establishment today by the Leader of Government Business (LOGB), Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, of a Committee of Party Leaders on the functioning of Parliament is an admission that Parliament is not working under the speakership of Baleka Mbete.

The DA very cautiously welcomes this concession and agreement by the LOGB to the demands of the Opposition in the wake of the systemic breakdown of Parliament that manifested on 13 November 2014.

We also welcome the concession by the Speaker not to pursue the suspension of any members from Parliament during Thursday's sitting.

Moreover, we welcome the decision to appoint an opposition Deputy Chairperson to this committee, which seat I will take up as Leader of the Opposition. But I will resist any attempts to co-opt the Opposition into rubber-stamping the ANC's abuse of Parliament.

This Committee must serve as a forum to ensure that Parliament is restored to being a functioning institution of our Democracy. 

The DA will demand in the committee that:

1.  A full inquiry is launched to determine who is responsible for ordering the police into the National Assembly on 13 November 2014; and

2. The police are never again allowed to enter the chambers of Parliament while in session to intimidate the opposition;

3. President Zuma appears before the House consistently, in line with his obligation under the Rules of Parliament;

4.  The Parliamentary Oversight Authority meets on a regularly scheduled basis; and

5. An Opposition member is appointed as a presiding officer of the National Assembly to inject impartiality into proceedings of the House.

What is sorely lacking from Parliament today is a commitment to accountability and to the rules. Unless there is a new commitment to accountability and the rules, from President Zuma, Speaker Baleka Mbete, and the ANC in Parliament, the Party Leaders' Committee will be nothing more than a talk shop.

President Zuma must account to Parliament, and the Presiding Officers must apply the rules fairly and correctly to restore the integrity of Parliament. These are not negotiable to the DA.

The DA will not rest until Parliament functions properly in terms of the law, and the Constitution.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, November 18 2014

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