A highly anticipated meeting to elect a chair for the newly established oversight committee on the Presidency ended in disarray as officials and MPs found themselves at sixes and sevens over election rules and procedures.
DA chief whip George Michalakis threw a spanner in the works during the first meeting of the committee on the Presidency when he accepted nomination to be chair, “seconded it” and proceeded to vote for himself.
This led to EFF MP Sam Matiase objecting to that development, arguing that it was against parliamentary rules, procedures and conventions, while MPs from other parties such as ActionSA and the ANC disagreed.
Earlier, there was also confusion as to whether members “co-opted” to fill in for full-time members of the committee were entitled to full voting rights in the all-important and unprecedented oversight committee.
The committee was established by the current parliament to conduct oversight on the Presidency after protracted fights waged for the establishment of such a body by parties such as the IFP, the DA and the EFF in the fifth and sixth parliaments.
The newly constituted parliamentary structure will — for the first time — see senior Presidency officials, such as the director-general, held directly accountable by a committee of the legislature, with the president and the deputy president appearing before it at least once per year to account for their budget and other policy matters.
We still need to consult further in terms of the rules and everything to ensure that it runs smoothly and in an authentic way … There are going to be further consultations in terms of the rules and practices
— Mvaba Dumezweni, presiding officer and committee secretary
Just as the election of the man or woman set to become one of the most powerful parliamentary committee chairs was about to start, ActionSA’s Athol Trollip asked for a short caucus of opposition parties. This was after the ANC and the DA both indicated that they would both be fielding candidates to contest the Presidency committee chairpersonship.
After a brief caucus, the ANC nominated its deputy chair, Dorris Mpapane, with the DA fielding Michalakis and the other opposition block nominating Mmabatho Mokoena-Zondi from the MK Party.
Dorris then amassed five votes, Michalakis two and Mokoena-Zondi four.
With “undeclared results” and no outright winner, Matiase and other MPs raised “grey areas” as to whether those nominated were allowed to vote for themselves, leading to the presiding officer and committee secretary, Mvaba Dumezweni, asking for time to consult his seniors.
Moments later, he returned to announce that he had been advised to suspend the election pending further consultations on related rules and procedures.
“The issue here is that there are just a few procedural issues that we investigate and consider for this meeting to produce the desired outcome. For example, we’ve just consulted with [secretary of the National Assembly, Masibulele] Xaso. He indicated that it is not procedurally correct for the member to second his nomination ... there’s no procedure supporting it,” said Dumezweni.
“And therefore … we still need to consult further in terms of the rules and everything to ensure that it runs smoothly and in an authentic way … There are going to be further consultations in terms of the rules and practices.”
In the end, it was agreed that the committee should reconvene before the end of the week.
TimesLIVE
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