Parliament was tightening its rules to avoid disruptions similar to the one during President Jacob Zuma’s last question session in the legislature in June, Speaker Baleka Mbete said today.
“After an incident, as you are aware, the last question day of the president could not be proceeded with because of disruptions in the House.
“We convened the rules committee… to make sure that it provides for necessary rules and mechanisms in order for Parliament to deliver on its constitutional expectations,” Mbete said in Pretoria.
She said the committee had discussed the need to have the rules reviewed on a technical level and would introduce a revised set in Parliament to be put to the vote by MPs.
“At this point, unfortunately we (are) not in a position to share with you a text of what the rules will be. They need to be seen by the appropriate structures first,” said Mbete.
She added that South Africans appeared to have a misconception about the rationale for revising the rules, with many believing that it was aimed at stifling the views of the opposition.
“We want to correct a misunderstanding that we have picked up within the media. As South Africans call in to certain radio stations, we detect a total misunderstanding of what is behind this exercise that we are embarking on,” said Mbete.
“It cannot be that because you scream the loudest then you are able to have people pay attention to you. (It’s not that) you are necessarily voicing views of everybody participating within Parliament and therefore you are the one with the correct view.”
The rules committee is set to meet again on Tuesday.
Zuma is due in the National Assembly in August for his next question session.
On June 18, the House was adjourned after the EFF repeatedly interrupted the president to confront him about the cost of his Nkandla home.
At the time, Mbete adjourned proceedings after the EFF chanted “pay back the money” and demanded Zuma declare when he would reimburse a portion of the R246 million of taxpayers’ money used on the Nkandla project, despite a report by the minister of police that all the upgrades were of a security nature and the president was therefore absolved of any liability.
The left-wing party has routinely sought to corner Zuma about the controversy when he appears in Parliament.
In February, this resulted in presiding officers sending in riot police to drag EFF MPs out of the chamber ahead of Zuma’s State of the Nation address.
In the June sitting, almost all other opposition parties supported the EFF’s calls that Zuma be held accountable for the Nkandla scandal, but said it should not be done at the expense of other critical questions put to Zuma.
The EFF refused to let the sitting go ahead if Zuma did not answer on Nkandla, drawing criticism from the Da and other parties.
In the end, Mbete adjourned proceedings, later explaining that again calling in the security forces to remove the errant MPs had not been an option.