While Parliament acknowledged the significance of legislative reforms suggested by the Zondo Commission, the legislative mandate was vested in the institution after following prescribed processes.
This was according to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who on Thursday addressed the media following Wednesday’s meeting with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
She said they appreciated the recommendations made to improve oversight and avoid state capture in the future.
“In this regard, work is under way to address these recommendations, and the Rules Committee has already considered them and made conclusive decisions on some of them,” she said.
Parliament met Justice Zondo after he made remarks last week at the Human Sciences Research Council’s colloquium, where he said he doubted whether the institution could prevent another round of state capture.
Mapisa-Nqakula said Parliament has taken note of the commission’s recommendation to consider passing electoral reforms, enabling a constituency-based electoral system, alongside the existing proportional representative system.
Justice Zondo had in his report recommended direct election of MPs and the president by the voters, among other things.
However, Mapisa-Nqakula signalled a warning about a clash between politics and the law without referring to Justice Zondo by name.
“Sometimes it can be very dangerous to venture into an area of politics, because you end up being entangled in debates by politicians. Once you get entangled in debates and positions of politicians, you may actually find it difficult at the end of the day to adjudicate when there is a crisis among ourselves,” she said when addressing the Electoral Amendment Act.
“That is tricky, because once you comment on the Electoral Amendment Act and express your view, it makes it difficult tomorrow when this matter is presented before you to adjudicate.”
National Council of Provinces chairperson, Amos Masondo, said they remained optimistic that the new law would enable elections to take place next year.
“We are confident things will go well and the new electoral system will be considered after the elections and many of the challenges will be addressed,” Masondo said.
On the recommendation to enact legislation protecting MPs from losing party membership and seats for not toeing the party line, Mapisa-Nqakula said the Constitution and the Powers, Privileges, and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act already provided protection.
On the recommendation to consider establishing a committee to oversee aspects of the Presidency not currently supervised by existing structures, Mapisa-Nqakula said the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has conducted research.
“The Rules Committee agreed that the PBO’s desk-top research should be supplemented with a fact-finding visit to explore international best practices on the matter.
“This comprehensive approach will establish a solid foundation for the Seventh Parliament, and the findings of the fact-finding mission, scheduled for July 2023, will be processed.”
Also responding to questions, Masondo said Justice Zondo did not apologise for his remarks.
“That was not the spirit of the meeting. The meeting sought to identify issues, discuss and move in a direction of finding appropriate solutions,” he said.
However, Mapisa-Nqakula said they had been shocked, did not expect Justice Zondo’s remarks, and they took up the matter as he had never raised issues with them before.
“The commission’s work ended last year. There is nowhere it says Parliament would have an obligation to report on progress made,” she said.
Cape Times