Opposition parties caution ANC against rejecting Section 89 panel report
Opposition parties cautioned the governing African National Congress (ANC) about choosing the party lines over their constitutional duties when they vote on the Section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala farm saga next Tuesday.
The ANC national executive committee already indicated that its caucus would reject the report that the president is taking on judicial review.
During a debate on Tuesday on the new rules for the National Assembly (NA), opposition parties argued that the house needed to take ownership of a report it commissioned, rather than dismiss it out of hand.
Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Narend Singh said Parliament should respect its own rules, which also gave rise to the Section 89 process currently underway.
“It is our report, and we are waiting in anticipation to see that the speaker, on behalf of all of us in Parliament, will object to any attempt to negate the findings of this report.”
The African Christian Democratic Party’s Steve Swart agreed.
He said for the ANC to reject the report would be to choose its narrow political interests over that of the NA.
“They would be using the institutional power of the assembly for a purpose other than the one for which the powers confer, and this would be inconsistent with the Constitution.”
However, the ANC appeared to be unmoved.
“Tuesday the 13th, there’s a venue, Cape Town City Hall. The ANC is already there. Bring it on. We are ready with our content and our numbers,” said the chair of the rule’s sub-committee, Richard Dyantyi.
A simple majority of 201 votes will be needed to adopt or reject the report.
-EWN
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