opposition’
Peter Dickson
The Eastern Cape Legislature’s African National Congress-dominated rules committee has been sent back to the drawing board after a blazing row in the Bisho house over a controversial propo- sal to restrict press and public debate on government matters and information.
The committee has proposed that “matters referred to, or information submitted to, a standing committee not be debated in the public and the press by individual members before the committee has considered it”.
Bisho sources say the proposal has provoked angry exchanges between ANC MPLs and Democratic Party MPL Bobby Stevenson of Port Elizabeth, who told the Mail & Guardian the proposal would “have the effect of gagging the opposition”. Stevenson said the angry and emotional debate about the proposal had reminded him of “the Nats at their worst”. The rules committee is now reconsidering the proposal, after the heated exchange earlier this month.
The ruling party, which holds 47 of the 63 seats in the provincial legislature, dominates portfolio standing committees that call government departments to account. The party would thus be able to decide when, and if, any matter was debated – if the proposal is ratified.
The DP, which has consistently held the record for the most questions asked in the Bisho house over the last five years – mainly by Eastern Cape leader and formerly lone MPL Eddie Trent – holds four seats. The United Democratic Movement holds nine seats, the New National Party two seats, and the Pan Africanist Congress has one seat.
Says Stevenson: “What concerns us is how this type of proposal can even find its way on to the agenda in a democratic society.”