/ 26 May 2016

Parliament adopts revised rule book

The 2006 forensic report prepared for Zuma's trial that never saw the light of day ... now made available in the public interest.
The outcome of the ANC’s long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

PARLIAMENT, May 26 (ANA) – In the absence of the Economic Freedom Fighters, the National Assembly on Thursday passed new parliamentary rules drafted in the wake of the party’s seismic arrival in the legislature two years ago.

Other opposition parties supported a report with the revised rules, allowing these to be adopted by 211 votes to 61, but deplored the animosity between the African National Congress and the third biggest political party that has prompted new provisions on dealing with disruption and violence in the chamber.

The United Democratic Movement’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said in essence, Parliament had to contend with a “vicious fight” between the ruling party and the EFF, adding of the latter: “They have a good thing going politically but they must not spoil it with violence.”

The new rules will apply from Friday, in accordance with a proposal by ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu.

Section 53 of the rules allows the presiding officer to call in parliamentary protection services to help the serjeant-at-arms to remove an MP from the chamber and from the parliamentary precinct, and for them to use force if necessary.

The Democratic Alliance’s Natasha Mazzone, who served as a member of the drafting committee, told the debate on the new rules “I think we did well with section 53” though it shrank the constitutional rights of members of the legislature. She added that it was a sad day that rules had to be laid down that envisaged the eventuality of violence in the House.

Her party’s chief whip John Steenhuisen blunty blamed the ANC for the animosity across the floor and EFF’s disruption of parliamentary debates, which last week again saw its members dragged from the chamber by security staff after the party tried to prevent President Jacob Zuma’s quarterly question and answer question from proceeding.

The EFF benches were empty as party members were still serving a punitive suspension period for that incident.

“You birthed them, you raised them badly and now you are wondering why these children are behaving badly… the ANC and the EFF are different sides of the same coin,” he said.

Steenhuisen said there remained a clear lack in the new rules in the form of a provision for unscripted questions to ministers, charging that most of the Cabinet could not answer one of these “if they tried”. He went on to say the debate and the rules ignored the ANC’s culpability in eroding the authority of Parliament by flouting the law, referring to the Constitutional Court ruling in the Nkandla case.

Speaker Baleka Mbete termed the adoption of the new rules “historic”. The ruling party had sought to debunk the belief that the overhaul of the rule book was prompted by the arrival of the EFF in Parliament following the 2014 elections, saying a revision had been in the pipeline for years.

– African News Agency (ANA)

Disclaimer: This story is pulled directly from the African News Agency wire, and has not been edited by Mail & Guardian staff. The M&G does not accept responsibility for errors in any statement, quote or extract that may be contained therein.