THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE MANNER IN WHICH THE ANC IS STEAM-ROLLING THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RULES
28 January 2015
The Economic Freedom Fighters is concerned about the manner in which the African National Congress is steamrolling the review of the Rules of the National Assembly and the Joint Rules of Parliament. The EFF has repeatedly cautioned the sub-committee on the review of the Rules of the National Assembly that steamrolling the review of Rules which should have a long lasting legacy will not assist Parliament.
There are many patently objectionable proposals brought by the ANC to the review process and the EFF is of the view that there should be a thorough and well-thought process to change Rules because Rules have an impact on the democratic nature and content of Parliament. Parliament's power and responsibility to hold the executive accountable and oversee all public entities and institutions should never be undermined because of the insecurities of the ANC.
While the EFF is not opposed to updating Rules whose intention is to make Parliament more democratic and open for robust engagements, we are totally opposed to the intention of the ANC and the manner in which the Rules are being changed. In the Rules of the National Assembly, the EFF is strongly apposed to inter alia, the following:
1. Prescription of dress code in Parliament: The EFF does not agree that there should be a dress code prescription that seeks to ban the working class clothes worn by the EFF in Parliament. We will never co-operate with any Rule that dictates on how we should dress as Members of Parliament and will do anything in our power to prevent such a Rule from being approved and enforced.
2. Allowing security to enter the the House: The EFF is of the view that the Police and Parliament Protection services should never enter the National Assembly Chamber to physically remove members, unless there are physical fights which pose a threat to life. It can never be correct and never democratic to physically remove elected Members of Parliament from the Chamber for defying instructions of the Speaker, which in most instances are incorrect and illegal instructions. The EFF will make detailed submission to the Rules Committee on this question.
3. Arbitrary suspension of Members from parliament: The EFF is totally opposed to the intention of the ANC to give or retain the Speakers' powers to suspend a member for period of between 3 to 15 days without following due disciplicnary process. It can never be correct and can never be Constitutional that any Speaker or presiding Officer be allowed to suspend a member without due process.
4. Referring to Members as ‘honourable": The EFF is opposed to inclusion of a Rule that will force members to refer to other Members of Parliament as ‘honourable". It will be very difficult to refer to characters such as Jacob Zuma, Baleka Mbete, Cyril Ramaphosa as ‘honourable" because there is really nothing ‘honourable' about these characters. The EFF is of the view that Members of Parliament should be allowed to refer to each as Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr and all normally accepted titles and those who feel like referring other members as ‘honourable' can also be allowed to do so. It is never correct to impose a rule that as members of parliament we should convey respect to individuals who are dishonourable and do not deserve the respect of anyone.
5. Secret ballot: The EFF is opposed to a notion that all votes in parliament by Members should be open votes. The EFF believes that Parliament should adopt a system Parliamentary democracy which should necessarily include secret ballot when requested by a certain threshold of Members of Parliament. Open voting erodes true democratic participation because members are intimidated into a political party line even when such a line is immoral and unjustifiable. The EFF is not afraid of secret ballot because we believe our logic is superior to the other political parties that intimidate their members to take a certain posture and decisions during Parliamentary deliberations. The EFF has made a substantial submission to the committee in this regard.
On the Joint Rules of Parliament, the majority party is steamrolling the process and have now introduced a new proposed Rule that reads as follows:
"No Member may interrupt the President whilst speaking during the annual state of the nation address-
1. To call attention to a point of order or to question of privilege; or
2. Ro request permission to put a question to the President."
It is evident that the ruling party is desperately introducing this new Rule in the Joint Sitting of Parliament because they intend to protect Jacob Zuma from answering questions. We have recurrently cautioned that Rules and regulations should be made with the intention of preserving the durability and Constitutional vitality of the National Assembly, and not to suit the narrow interests of the ruling Party.
As things stand, the recommendations of the sub-committees to review the Rules of the National Assembly and the Joint Rules of Parliament can only make recommendations and suggestions which should serve before the Rules and Joint Rules Committees respectively. Once approved by the Rules Committees, the Rules will be presented for adoption to the National Assembly and joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.
The EFF calls on the subsequent levels of Parliament to pay detailed attention on all the issues we have raised and brought to the attention of the sub-committee. We are saying to the ruling party and all political parties in Parliament to carefully deal with Rules of Parliament and should bear in mind that one of the founding principles of South Africa's Constitution is multi-party democracy.
Undermining multi-party democracy will undermine the spirit and essence of the Constitution and the EFF will never be party to those who seek to decapitate the Constitution for narrow political purposes. There are far much more important issues that can be dealt with in the Constitution and Rules of Parliament, not attempts that seek to make it difficult for opposition parties to hold the executive accountable.
The ruling party is undermining parliament hence they are rushing to present the draft revisions of the Rules to the Rules Committee even before the whole exercise has been completed. The current Rules of the National Assembly have 15 Chapters which are equally important, but the ruling party intends to present for approval only 9 Chapters, whilst the other Chapters have direct impact on the ones where there is currently no consensus.
We do not agree with the ruling party on many political and ideological questions, we however believe that Rules should not be steamrolled and all members of the 5th Democratic parliament should be allowed adequate space to input on the Rules review process. Steamrolled Rules are bound to fail Parliament and we will again remind the ruling party that we cautioned them when they were changing Rules not for principle purposes, but for political convenience.
The EFF assures the people of South Africa that we will never limit our robust, militant and rigorous way of revolutionary Parliamentarism. There is no amount of intimidation that will undermine the EFF's resolve and commitment to fight against corruption and present a cogent alternate agenda. We remain unshaken and will fight to the end. No surrender! No retreat!
Statement issued by the Office of the EFF Chief Whip, January 29 2015
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