WATTY WATSON MUST APOLOGISE TO ANC CHIEF WHIP
5 September
The Office of the ANC Chief Whip strongly urges the DA Chief Whip, Watty Watson, to apologise to the ANC Chief Whip for spreading malicious lies about him.
We are disappointed with the lowest levels Watson seems to be prepared to stoop just for the sake of scoring few mentions in the media. We reject with the contempt it deserves the malicious rumours and lies regarding the ANC Chief Whip's management of the Multiparty Chief Whips Forum, which he chairs.
According to Watson, the ANC Chief Whip has attended only seven of the Forum meetings he himself convened since the beginning of 2012. If Watson's theory was to be believed, it means that ANC Chief Whip was present in parliament for just under two months out of the entire nine months this year. What an outrageous and shameless hogwash!
We requested Parliament to furnish us with factual statistics regarding the 2012 meetings of the Forum, and this is what was provided:
2012 Multiparty Chief Whips Forum meetings:
1. Number of ordinary meetings: 15
2. Number of special meetings (called by the Chief Whip to specifically discuss Joint Rules Committee Report, State of the National Address preparations; and recently the Marikana tragedy): 3
3. Number of postponed meetings: 3 (Dates: 6 June 2012; 29 August 2012; 5 September 2012)
4. Reasons for postponements: Unavailability of party Chief Whips, lack of quorum;
Firstly, it is improbable that the Chief Whip of the ANC will be available for every engagement in Parliament, hence the existence of the position of the Deputy Chief Whip. Watson's assertion that it is wrong for the Chief Whip to delegate his deputy is plain silliness. Secondly, Watson must cease using the name of the Speaker of Parliament to advance his dirty tricks. The Speaker has never had a meeting with the Chief Whip regarding his management of the Forum.
For Watson to wage a personal attack of this nature points to an unfortunate dearth of political maturity on his part and the party he leads. We really have no desire to engage in the immature politics of mindless lies and fabrications. It is these kinds of juvenile antics that cause unnecessary party-to-party tensions, which unfortunately is not driven by any political content.
In his statement Watson claims that the ANC Chief Whip is missing in action. What really missing in action here is unfortunately is his political circumspection and wisdom as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition.
Watson's lies border on character assassination and we therefore urge him to apologise.
Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, September 5 2012
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