Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is not budging in her battle with MPs, who she accuses of misunderstanding the rules of Cabinet and Parliament.
Sisulu’s acrimonious relationship with the National Assembly has been highlighted by her refusal to hand over to Parliament’s defence committee documents of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission until they have been endorsed by Cabinet.
MPs also accuse her of skipping committee meetings and refusing to give adequate responses to parliamentary questions.
In the latest spat, seen as a key test of Parliament’s ability to hold the executive to account, there have been calls for her to be summoned by the committee, and complaints have been forwarded to deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, in his capacity as a leader of government business, and to parliamentary speaker Max Sisulu.
The reports paint a grim picture of a defence force demoralised by poor salaries and working conditions.
Sisulu’s spokesperson, Ndivhuwo Mabaya, said that under Cabinet rules, any report Cabinet commissioned should be presented to the executive before going to Parliament.
“Cabinet does not take kindly to its reports being taken to Parliament before it can see them. We were not asked by the portfolio committee to initiate this report; it was commissioned by Cabinet.”
Mabaya said MPs did not seem to understand the relationship between the executive and Parliament. “If they want the minister not to follow Cabinet rules, they should write to the secretary of Cabinet and ask for her to be exempted from them.”
It was a sad situation that decisions agreed to in a meeting held last Thursday, including giving Sisulu time to work on the report and get Cabinet to endorse it, were now being changed in unrecognised forums, he said.
In April Sisulu failed for the third time to appear before Parliament’s public spending watchdog, Scopa, to answer questions about her department’s poor financial state.
All other ministers attended the Scopa meeting. Sisulu said she had not attended because she was accompanying President Jacob Zuma on state visits to Britain and Uganda at the time. After a public spat with Scopa chairperson Themba Godi, Sisulu announced that she would boycott the committee until it apologised to her. She has not been invited to Scopa since, has not received an apology and a meeting to resolve the tension has not yet been convened.
Sisulu and the committee have used separate legal opinions to back their conflicting positions. Parliament’s lawyer, Mukesh Vassen, argues that MPs can summon ministers to provide information and reports, though it should be a last resort.
Sisulu’s legal advisers have attacked Vassen’s opinion as “way off the mark and absurd”, as seeking to give ministers the status of witnesses. They argue that demanding an interim report on which the executive has not formulated an opinion could amount to “scrutinising and overseeing executive action” and that a document not endorsed by the executive is not “executive action” or policy.
Parliament is processing the Defence Amendment Bill, aimed at creating a permanent defence force service commission. MPs argue that they need to know the contents of the reports before they can process the proposed amendments. Sisulu, however, denies concealment, emphasising that the findings do not reflect on her term of office, but on that of her predecessor, Congress of the People president Mosiuoa Lekota.
Said her spokesperson Mabaya: “Politically, we have got nothing to lose. We would be happy to lambast Lekota, but it is not our business. Our focus is to improve the lives of our soldiers.” The defence committee will meet next week to discuss ways of proceeding, including the option of summoning Sisulu to appear before it.