Cape Town - The faltering peace deal between the government and opposition parties in Parliament is being resuscitated in what is seen as a make-or-break meeting on Monday.
The meeting between Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and leaders of opposition parties in Pretoria comes a few days after the deputy president and the ANC had called off the deal after the DA reneged on it.
But the two sides are giving the peace deal another chance as they try to resolve the stalemate on the problems facing Parliament.
ANC chief whip Stone Sizani said on Sunday he hoped the meeting would be able to resolve all the problems in the running of Parliament.
However, Sizani would not say whether the meeting would also put on the table the issue of the report on sanctions meted out to 20 EFF MPs for disrupting Parliament in August.
The report was supposed to be adopted in Thursday’s session in Parliament, after an infuriated ANC put it back on the agenda following the DA’s backtracking on the deal.
This was after the DA had tabled a motion of censure against President Jacob Zuma.
After a seven-hour standoff between the ANC and opposition parties in Parliament last Thursday it was agreed to remove that item on the agenda until this week.
While Parliament was expected to rise on Friday last week this was postponed for a week to give outstanding issues a chance to be resolved.
The issue of the disciplinary charges and sentences meted out to EFF members was one of those agenda items.
Sizani said this matter could also be part of the meeting on Monday.
“If you remember the statement by the deputy president, the meeting is to take that process forward and operationalise it. Whether it’s going to be back on the agenda or held in abeyance that will depend on the meeting tomorrow (Monday),” Sizani said on Sunday.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the party’s Parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane would attend the meeting with the deputy president.
He denied claims by the ANC and Ramaphosa that the DA had stalled the process by reneging on the deal.
He said Ramaphosa has no authority to talk about the business of Parliament, but about the environment in Parliament as leader of government business.
He said the DA had agreed with Ramaphosa last Tuesday to create an environment for Parliament to function. The party never entered into any deal beyond that.
He denied that the DA had created a stalemate in Parliament after its motion of censure against Zuma.
This was indicated by Ramaphosa in his statement and oral response in the National Assembly on Wednesday after the DA pressed on with its motion.
Cape Times