Parliament rejects the DA’s call for an Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Eskom

26 March 2019

On 20 March, the Democratic Alliance (DA) wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, calling for Parliament to remain in session and for the Speaker to urgently establish an urgent Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Eskom consisting of the Portfolio Committees on Energy, Public Enterprises, and Trade and Industry.

This in light of Eskom having entered Stage 4 loadshedding for 8 consecutive days, having already cost the South African economy billions of Rands.

Today, the DA received response from the Speaker, declining our request to call Parliament back into session to find solutions to the crisis.

Rule 253 reads,

“An ad hoc committee may be established—

(a) by resolution of the Assembly; or

(b) during the adjournment of the Assembly for a period of more than 14 days, by the Speaker after consulting the Chief Whip and the most senior whip of each of the other parties.”

It is clear that in direct contrast to the powers and privileges awarded to her by the Rules of Parliament, the Speaker is taking her instructions directly from Luthuli House and is acting in the interests of the ANC, rather than the 57 million South Africans who rely on Parliament to develop and implement solutions to crises such as that of Eskom.

It is inconceivable that the lights are out at Parliament while they are out across the country, too. The Speaker has a Constitutional obligation to ensure that the Legislature resolves the problems that the Executive is unable or unwilling to deal with.

There are a number of measures the legislature can take if called back into session to deal with the crisis, such as passing urgent legislative amendments and summoning the relevant officials and Ministers to account for the current crisis.

Despite this looming catastrophe, the ANC has no plan resolve the problems at Eskom and it is now patently clear that they have no intention of using the mechanisms at their disposal to work on developing one.

The DA will not allow this crisis to continue unabated. I will write back to the Speaker, drawing her attention to the specific rules which empower her to approach the whips of parties represented in Parliament to establish this Ad Hoc Committee and to call Parliament back to session. The DA is prepared to form part of the solution and table our proposals on Eskom which will fix the mess that has been created over years of corruption and mismanagement.

Mbete can no longer neglect her responsibilities as the presiding officer. Parliament must be the institution that will seek the solutions to South Africa’s biggest energy crisis.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, 26 March 2019