DA calls for Parliament to reconvene and sort out SA mess

DA wants Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,asking her to reconvene Parliament.Image: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency(ANA)

DA wants Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,asking her to reconvene Parliament.Image: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Jul 7, 2022

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Siyabonga Sithole

Following myriad crises in the country, the DA says it has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, calling for Parliament to reconvene.

With the country teetering between Stage 6 and Stage 4 load shedding, high unemployment numbers and rising food and fuel prices, leaders of the opposition parties have long called for Parliament to sit down and discuss matters, as well as for President Cyril Ramaphosa to take the country into his confidence over a series of issues, including the Phala Phala farm scandal.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen said it was inconceivable that Parliament remained shut at a time of national crisis, adding that during this time Parliament should be meeting on a regular basis to find solutions to the country’s problems.

"Stage 6 load-shedding, the fuel price crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, the Phala Phala scandal, unemployment and the state’s seeming inability or unwillingness to tackle growing lawlessness are causing immense unnecessary economic damage and human suffering, risking full-blown anarchy.

“Parliament needs to reconvene immediately so that we can tackle these problems with the urgency they require.

“This is even more critical since President Ramaphosa seems to be missing in action, or simply unwilling to speak to the nation about the state it is in and reassure people that action is being taken," Steenhuisen said.

The leader of the opposition party has also decried the fact that the 68-member Cabinet with an extra 68 deputy ministers and other parallel structures, including the many tasks teams, are failing to steer the country's ship in times of deepening crises.

The call for Parliament to reconvene follows on the heels of a recent letter the party had written to the Speaker for the Cabinet to reconvene.

"It has been 10 days since I wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula requesting that she urgently establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the Phala Phala robbery scandal, which implicates President Ramaphosa in an array of serious crimes from money laundering to bribery to the abuse of public funds for private gain, yet still no action has been taken," Steenhuisen added.