Parliament shutting down debate in the National Assembly 

The DA is outraged by a decision taken this morning by the National Assembly Programming Committee that the Financial Services Laws General Amendment Bill will not be debated this afternoon, despite opposition parties request for this to happen.

The rules do not allow MPs, or political parties, the right to prevent a Second Reading debate. By convention, there have been occasions where the relevant committee has unanimously decided that the report be tabled and introduced by the Chairperson of the Committee only. The DA members on the Committee of Finance did not provide the consensus required, and their opposition was not minuted. It must therefore go to a debate in the house.

I had raised this very matter at Chief Whips Forum yesterday, but the matter remained unresolved. I proceeded to write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, to voice my serious concerns that what was happening was so antithetical to the fundamental principles of parliamentary procedure, that it required an urgent ruling by him.

At this morning's Programming Committee, the ANC bulldozed over opposition concerns, again undermining this most established precedent of parliamentary procedure, and resolved that the debate could not happen.

This is highly problematic for two key reasons:

The programming committee, as was extensively argued in both the Western Cape High Court and the Constitutional Court (Mazibuko v Speaker of the National Assembly) is a body that operates on consensus. I am baffled that it now can make a decision as important as this, despite Parliament's very arguments to the contrary; and

The effect of this decision is to create a precedent where if the ANC decides to use its majority in a committee to resolve that there is no debate on a bill, there will be no debate. Given the ANC majority in Parliament, this could prevent a single further debate from happening again in the National Assembly.

I will write to the Speaker for written confirmation that the position remains that unless there is consensus by all members of a committee that there should be no debate on a bill, then the bill must be debated. 

I trust that the Speaker will use this opportunity to make it clear that there has been no change to the precedent of Parliament, which exists to ensure that the positions of all political parties, regardless of their size, are heard.

Statement issued by Watty Watson MP, Democratic Alliance Chief Whip, October 31 2013

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