The African National Congress has denied that it bowed to pressure in withdrawing the nomination of Vincent Smith as chair of the public accounts committee (Scopa).
The ANC caused surprise this week when it put forward New National Party member Francois Beukman as the chair when it had previously indicated it might settle for Smith.
The nomination of Smith was criticised because of his reputation as a loyal party man who enforces the ANC line strictly. Critics pointed out that Scopa members need to be open-minded people who can exercise oversight over the government in an independent manner.
Smith is remembered for having defended the ANC when the government was under siege during the arms deal inquiry.
But on Thursday the ANC said that to suggest it had changed its mind was ”news” to the party.
ANC parliamentary spokesperson Cuba Mahaye said Beukman was nominated for the sake of continuity. Beukman has been chair since 2002, when previous chair Gavin Woods resigned in protest at the way the committee was handling the arms deal inquiry.
”People intentionally created confusion that we wanted to appoint Smith. But in the same breath we want to dismiss the notion that it is a tradition for opposition to chair this committee. When does habit become a tradition? Does the fact that we have had only women speakers suggest the speaker must always be a woman?” asked Mahaye.
The Democratic Alliance, however, believes Beukman will not be independent as the NNP is in an alliance with the ANC. ”The position should be given to a member of the real opposition, not an opposition that is in bed with the ruling party,” said the DA’s Eddie Trent.