DA: Parliament protecting Ramaphosa ‘just like it protected Zuma’
The DA believes the refusal by Parliament to establish an ad-hoc committee to probe the Phala Phala scandal is a case of history repeating itself.
National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has declined DA leader John Steenhuisen's request to establish an ad-hoc committee to investigate the theft of a large amount of foreign currency from President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm.
"The Speaker declined the request arguing that National Assembly Rule 253 sets out requirements for the establishment of an Ad hoc Committee, and one of them is the performance of a specific task," explains parliamentary spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo.
"While the request proposes a committee on Phala Phala, it goes on to list various distinct tasks for investigation.
"At this stage, the various components raised by Steenhuisen for parliamentary intervention are better suited for attention by the existing Parliamentary oversight structures."
Steenhuisen argues that this decision is a "direct and deliberate move by Parliament to shield the executive, and the President himself, from the accountability required of them in our constitutional democracy”.
"This act is, quite frankly, a case if history repeating itself if we consider Parliament’s refusal, under the ANC, to establish an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations surrounding former President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead which turned out to be disastrously true," says Steenhuisen.
"In fact, this act has shown the nation that Parliament and the Speaker, under the ANC, have learned nothing from the nine wasted years in which South Africa lost trillions of rands to corruption, and suffered dramatic developmental and economic regression, while our institutions merely stood by and watched.
"Once again Parliament is standing by and watching while our head of state is mired in serious allegations of theft, kidnapping, and the abuse of state resources - allegations which taint the Office of the Presidency and could render President Ramaphosa wholly unfit to hold public office.
"The ANC is once again repurposing Parliament as a rug under which it sweeps scandal and corruption out of sight of public eye.
Steenhuisen says the DA will now consider its legal options to challenge the Speaker’s decision.
The Speaker also declined the African Transformation Movement's (ATM) motion submitted to seek the removal of the President in terms of section 89 of the Constitution.
"In her letter to Vuyo Zungula of the ATM, the Speaker explained that from reading his submission, she was unable to determine which of the listed grounds in section 89(1) was he relying on," says Motapho.
"The Speaker has accordingly advised Zungula to ensure clearly formulated grounds on which his motion relies.”
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