Speaker 'should have let MPs ask questions'

National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu has come under attack from complainants in the controversial police lease deals, who claim his utterances and actions during a parliamentary debate suggest his disrespect for the office of the public protector.

Institute of Accountability in Southern Africa director Paul Hoffman and Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald have written to Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela, requesting that she enforce remedial action against those fingered in her reports.

"An attempt by the opposition to hold the president accountable can't just be kicked out. He [Sisulu] was preventing [President Jacob] Zuma from accounting to parliament," said Hoffman. Groenewald contended that Sisulu had erred when he referred to Madonsela's report as "allegations", as the report was based on claims investigated by professionals who made findings.

Hoffman and Groenewald's outrage follows a debate on Tuesday during which Sisulu barred MPs from questioning Zuma on his tardy response to Madonsela's reports on the lease scandal.

Sisulu's spokesman, Sukhti Naidoo, said National Assembly rules dictated that no questions pertaining to reports being discussed in committees be posed to the president until they were deliberated there.

Madonsela found that national commissioner General Bheki Cele and Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde had flouted tender processes .