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Our constitutional democracy, under assault by a cabal

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Mmusi Maimane is leader of Build One SA.

The events of Thursday, 13 November 2014, will forever be a stain on the history book of our democratic project. South Africa is now beyond the brink of a constitutional crisis because the Constitution is being put to one side and the Rules of Parliament are being ignored by a cabal of Majority Party Members of Parliament.

In the nine hours that the National Assembly sat, we saw how ANC Chairperson Baleka Mbete acted on the instructions of her Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe to promote the ANC’s politics over the rule of law; we saw how the ANC used its majority to legitimise criminal activity by adopting the report of the ANC-only Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee, which, in my view, illegally exonerated President Jacob Zuma for his role in the Nkandla scheme; and we saw the SAPS’ Public Order Policing or riot police descend on the National Assembly to intimidate and assault Opposition Party Members of Parliament who called for accountability.

South Africa is now beyond the brink of a constitutional crisis because the Constitution is being put to one side and the Rules of Parliament are being ignored by a cabal of Majority Party Members of Parliament.

The only voices of reason today ring out from one side of the House, occupied by the opposition. We are fighting in defence of the Constitution and Parliament.

The Rules of Parliament are essential to the functioning of our national legislature which is tasked with upholding the Constitution and ensuring the Executive is held accountable. The Constitution remains the highest law of the Republic, and it is integral to a functioning democratic state. The reality is that Parliament and our Constitution are under threat from a majority, which does as it pleases in order to protect President Zuma.

An illustration in several newspapers, with the caption “…only one house will stand!”, uttered by President Zuma, succinctly summarises the impending crisis South Africa faces, where Parliament is being broken down, bit by bit, in order to legitimise the theft of State funds for the sake of keeping President Zuma’s Nkandla palace standing.

It is the house at Nkandla, over the House of Parliament.

Regarding the vote for the adoption of the whitewash report of the ANC study group, the Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee was 210 voting ‘yes’ to corruption and yes to a disregard for the law, and 103 voting ‘no’ to a destruction of the Constitution and Parliament.

We accept the ANC’s majority as voted for by the electorate, but what we cannot accept is that this majority is being used to silence the voice of the Opposition and the people who voted for them. We cannot accept that this majority is being used to protect President Zuma from his duties and constitutional imperatives.

The state of our nation is not healthy and the ANC is refusing for a remedy to be administered in the form of the checks and balances that exist through Parliament; questions, debates, committees and our power in Parliament to order the President to follow the law.

As I have written before, the fight to get President Zuma to comply with the Public Protector’s report, and the Opposition Party walkout from the Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee, goes far beyond the president paying what he owes at Nkandla. The real fight is to defend Parliament and the Constitution from being rendered useless by a political clique that is far more interested in protecting President Zuma and driving a political agenda. As my colleague James Selfe said in the House: if the ANC votes in favour of breaking the law, then it is choosing to relegate itself to irrelevance.

The outcome of this political hit on the Constitution and Parliament will be tyranny, because when rules and laws are flouted, the political rulers are left to their own devices, with nothing to restrain their political choices which so clearly fall outside the parameters of the Constitution and Parliament. This is not a hysterical view, it is the reality that South Africa faces. It is something the ANC has showed us over and over again.

In which constitutional democracy is it acceptable for the police to physically assault Members of Parliament, and as this happens the live feed of this despicable act is cut in order to hide the unfolding constitutional crisis?

While Members of my caucus and Members of other parties where physically assaulted, the real assault was on the rule of law, in the sacred chamber where laws should be made and defended. The bodies of the brave men and women of the DA will heal, but long will our constitutional democracy feel the wounds of this assault.

The Nkandla debacle, Baleka Mbete’s abuse of power at the instruction of Luthuli House and the Executive’s disregard for Parliament’s oversight authority are distracting South Africa from debating and legislating for a better South Africa.

This is a crisis, which we as the DA and opposition are fighting day and night to arrest. We want to restore order to our constitutional democracy and reinvigorate Parliament for the sake of South Africa and the citizens who look up to us for hope and a better life.

Under the leadership of President Zuma and the ANC, our Constitution and Parliament are no longer safe. The ANC is using its majority to silence those who sit on the other side of the National Assembly, but we will not be silent because we fully understand the gravitas of our constitutional duties. We will not be silent when the democracy and Constitution which was fought for during the days of Apartheid is being eroded by a cabal.

The reality is that the rules and Constitution are only as good as the people who have been entrusted with them. As the DA we realise this, yet we also realise that the ANC can no longer be trusted to uphold the rules, the law and the Constitution.

The fight to ensure that President Zuma is held accountable and that our constitutional democracy is restored is far from over. These are trying times, and we need the support of all South Africans, regardless of political affiliation, because first and foremost, we are South Africans under a constitutional democracy.

We commit ourselves, as defenders of the Constitution, to ensure that Parliament functions and the Constitution is upheld as the supreme law of our Republic. DM

For as long as Baleka Mbete presides over a Parliament that allows Jacob Zuma to escape all liability, our fight is truly on for now, and for all future generations. DM

Maimane is Leader of Opposition in South African Parliament.

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