President Thabo Mbeki has ignored all written parliamentary questions addressed to him by the official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.
DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha said Mbeki had not responded to all nine questions that the party had addressed to him this year.
”Since the beginning of 2007, the Democratic Alliance has submitted nine written parliamentary questions to President Thabo Mbeki.
”As of today [Thursday], November 1, the president has failed to respond to a single one of them,” she said.
Mbeki’s attitude, Botha said, reflected the level of disrespect being shown by the executive towards Parliament.
”The President’s attitude constitutes yet further evidence of the growing disdain the executive seems to have for Parliament and its oversight function,” she said.
DA questions that Mbeki had so far ignored included the ones regarding Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang; police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi; and the Donen Commission of Inquiry’s report into the United Nations’s oil-for-food programme, Botha said.
”It is quite clear from his actions that the president has little respect for Parliament [and] he does not like being held to account.
”He does not like having to answer questions about his conduct and the government’s actions and, in turn, he continues to disrespect two key constitutional requirements: oversight and accountability,” she said.
The growing number of Cabinet ministers failing to appear for questions in the National Assembly, Botha said, was evidence ministers were quickly emulating Mbeki’s attitude.
”More disturbing still, his disdain for Parliament seems to be rubbing off on the rest of the executive,” she said.
Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said while he was not sure whether there were any questions that the president had not yet responded to, Mbeki generally responded to political parties’ questions. — Sapa