Mbete has provided scant answers on Parliamentary Protection Services

06 August 2015

The Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Baleka Mbete, has still not answered critical questions on what she terms as the “strengthening of capacity of Parliamentary Protection Services”. 

This comes after a letter she sent all political parties this morning in which she declares that the new Rules will be“applicable with immediate effect.” This is with respect to Members of Parliament who refuse to comply with NA Rule 51. Her letter goes on to state: 

“The Rules create a role for the Parliamentary Protection Services in the removal of a Member. This is requirement has necessitated that the capacity of that department be strengthened…The candidates [for Parliamentary Protection Services], who met the requirements, were offered employment and those who accepted have since resigned from the [South African] Police Service.”

While the Speaker has attempted to address our concerns; she has failed to answer two critical questions I raised in my letter dated 31 July 2015 and again this morning.

The Speaker has failed to reveal the names and positions of each member that is to be appointed to Parliament’s Protection Services and the relevant training of each of these members.

Importantly related to this is the Human Resources (HR) process that was followed to appoint these recuits. The Speaker has not indicated whether or not these posts were advertised; what the shortlisting process entailed and whether or not any interviews were conducted.

These are critical questions that need to be answered so that Members of the Public and Members of Parliament alike can satisfy themselves that these recruits possess the requisite training and that the House is never again plunged into violent chaos at the hands of the “Men in White” as seen on 11 November when the police stormed into the NA Chamber.

The Speaker, as the custodian of Parliament’s R2.6 billion budget, cannot just make appointments using taxpayers money without due oversight.

The Speaker must provide this information as soon as possible to avoid any liability if she moved to call the Protection Services into this afternoon’s contentious sitting of the House and in future.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Chief Whip of the DA, August 6 2015