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/ 25 May 2008

DA says Parliament dodges questions

The Democratic Alliance on Sunday accused Parliament’s questions office of ”obstructing” the party’s parliamentary questions probing corruption. The questions office had disqualified two written questions on the grounds that they were too vague in terms of the National Assembly’s guide to procedure.

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/ 15 May 2008

Political parties unite behind Scorpions

The African Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance, Independent Democrats and United Democratic Movement have filed a joint submission in the Pretoria High Court as a friend of the court in support of Hugh Glenister’s bid to stop the disbanding of the Scorpions, the parties said on Thursday.

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/ 13 May 2008

DA questions halt to Travelgate probe

The Democratic Alliance has called on the Speaker of Parliament to explain why a decision has been made to stop further investigations into MPs implicated in the Travelgate scandal. This follows publication of a notice directing liquidators ”not to pursue any action as against the various members of Parliament in relation to the un-invoiced tickets, levies and/or services”.

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/ 20 April 2008

DA: Parliament needs to discuss Zim crisis

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday it would again write to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to request that she reconsider her decision to turn down a request for a special sitting of Parliament to debate the crisis in Zimbabwe. DA chief whip Ian Davidson said his party believed that President Thabo Mbeki’s policy on Zimbabwe had been a failure.

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/ 18 February 2008

ANC says DA is making a ‘mockery of Parliament’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) was making a mockery of Parliament, the African National Congress charged on Sunday. This, after public protector Lawrence Mushwana recommended Parliamentary action against DA MP Mike Waters. Waters complained last year that President Thabo Mbeki had abused his office by demanding that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang get priority on a organ-transplant list.

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/ 13 December 2007

DA fumes over unanswered questions

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for effective sanction of government departments for failing to answer written parliamentary questions after 233 of its questions went unanswered this year. Thirteen percent (233) of the 1 690 written parliamentary questions posed by the party this year remained unanswered on Wednesday.

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/ 10 September 2007

DA in ‘lively’ meeting after suspension of MP

The Democratic Alliance (DA) had a ”lively” exchange of views with National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete on Monday in a meeting held to discuss her suspension of DA MP Mike Waters. The meeting was also aimed at discussing Mbete’s ruling as out of order a question, asked by Waters, about Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s theft conviction.

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/ 6 September 2007

DA MP ejected from Parliament

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mike Waters has been suspended from Parliament following his outburst in the National Assembly on Wednesday. At the start of proceedings in the House on Thursday afternoon, speaker Baleka Mbete described his conduct of the day before as ”outrageous, disrespectful and grossly disorderly”.

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/ 6 September 2007

DA MPs walk out of National Assembly

The majority of the members of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) walked out of the National Assembly on Thursday after speaker Baleka Mbete officially suspended one of them for five days. Health spokesperson Mike Waters upset the speaker on Wednesday when he challenged her ruling that a question directed to Manto Tshabalala Msimang was out of order.

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/ 5 September 2007

Manto theft question rouses Assembly

There was an uproar in the National Assembly on Wednesday when a Democratic Alliance MP was ordered to leave after a written question he posed to the health minister was ruled out of order. The question was whether the minister had been convicted of theft and whether she had disclosed this information to President Thabo Mbeki.