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Parliament: Where we can and cannot differ

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Mmusi Maimane is leader of Build One SA.

Two weeks ago, the SAPS’s Public Order Policing Unit entered the National Chamber in an attempt to silence the dissenting views of the Opposition, which called for Number 1 to answer the many questions that have gone unanswered. Under whose instruction the SAPS were acting is still unclear.

It is tragic that the loud calls, from the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties, for President Jacob Zuma to account to the House which elected him, received rebuke from the ANC, which once held the House in high regard. They once respected the Rules of Parliament and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa; gone are those days!

The ANC has taken a position that puts itself against the People’s Parliament, where they rule with an iron fist and show disdain for the opposition, which was also given an electoral mandate to represent the people of the Republic. While the ANC may have the majority, they’re not the only party in Parliament, therefore all views must be respectfully accommodated.

The House is broken because the rules are broken in defence of our absent president. The Constitution is shelved for the sake of President Zuma never having to answer for his toxic cocktail scandals.

We want to fix Parliament, but fixing it does not mean that we will sit back and derelict our Oaths of Office and our commitment to the people of South Africa because ultimately, this Parliament serves the men, women and children of the Republic. To do anything less than hold elected representatives accountable would be to the detriment of Parliament’s oversight authority and the principles of constitutional democracy.

Fixing the House does not mean suspending or ending our fight to defend the Constitution.

The meeting with the Deputy President and party political leaders established a forum for the various parties, in an attempt to ensure that the Rules of Parliament are upheld and that the Presiding Officers execute their duties in line with the Rules, not in a manner that leaves us asking: Is this Luthuli House or the Houses of Parliament?

If Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is committed to fixing Parliament, he will furnish us with the date when President Zuma will appear before the National Assembly to execute his duties before the House. While Parliament closes this week, we are prepared to be recalled for a special sitting. We cannot wait until next year, because the unanswered questions and scandals of President Zuma grow every day.

The president has become a law unto himself!

We will not be co-opted into a scheme that allows the president to undermine his constitutional and parliamentary imperatives; and a scheme that allows Luthuli House deployees to run ANC meetings in the National Assembly.

Furthermore, the Deputy President’s Committee of Parliamentary Leaders, over and above making Parliament work, needs to talk about how Parliament needs to align itself with making the National Development Plan a reality, and getting the economy into the next gear, because we have been stuck in first gear for too long.

Our participation in the Deputy President’s Committee of Parliamentary Leaders is incumbent upon his commitment to ensuring that the president and the entire Executive commit themselves to accounting to the People’s Parliament. His job as Leader of Government Business is to effectively coordinate the work of the Executive in Parliament, including ensuring that that policies adopted by the Executive are in sync with the NDP and growing economy.

The House is divided, and it will not stand if those in the majority continue to show disdain for the Rules and the Constitution.

On one side of the House we have Members who say that the “climate” is not conducive to the President fulfilling his duties. On the other side, we have Members who are saying that President Zuma’s duties to account to Parliament and the people of South Africa do not hinge upon the “climate”.

South Africa has a Constitution and Parliament has its Rules, which must be followed.

The Constitution is clear in saying that the president must account to Parliament. The Rules are clear in saying that the president must answer oral questions in the House at least once every Parliamentary Term. Nowhere is reference made to the “climate”.

I admit, the temperature in the House has been heated, but this is a direct outcome of President Zuma and Executive’s failure to do their jobs, and the ANC’s protection of him at the cost of Parliament’s oversight authority over the Executive and the president.

Members of Parliament can differ on policy and other matters, but we cannot be divided when it comes to the Constitution and the Rules of Parliament. They keep the House together; they keep the House standing.

Our fight to defend Parliament’s integrity and the Constitution continues, and we will not back down until we get answers from the President and the Rules of Parliament are followed. DM

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