ANC continues to undermine the functioning of the FS Legislature

30 August 2017

The ANC continues to undermine the functioning of the Free State Provincial Legislature.

For some time now, the ANC has shown little regard for upholding the constitutional mandate of the Legislature, especially in conducting effective oversight over the Executive.

Just this week, the MEC for Finance, Elzabe Rockman, and the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Sisi Ntomblela, were long scheduled to brief the Portfolio Committee of Public Accounts and Finance yesterday, on the poor audit outcomes of the worst performing Free State municipalities. The MEC for Education, Tate Makgoe, was also scheduled to brief the Committee on the R86 million lost from the infrastructure grant, that the Department had to return to National Treasury as a result of the failure by the Department to spend it. The Committee for Social Services scheduled for yesterday was also cancelled.

The reason given for these cancellations was that Premier Ace Magashule had called a meeting of the Executive, and as such, MECs were unable to attend the committee meetings.

This is absolutely unacceptable, since the Leader of Government Business, Tate Makgoe, was aware of the scheduled meetings since the programme of the Legislature was adopted at the beginning of this term.

There is also a culture by Committee Chairpersons, most notably the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Economic Development, Thabo Meeko, to call for and cancel committee meetings willy-nilly, showing a total disregard for the proper planning required to ensure that the business of the Legislature runs smoothly.

This total disregard for the Legislature by the ANC shows that the party as a whole has no intention of upholding the institution’s constitutional mandate. It also shows that the ANC Chief Whip, Neels van Rooyen, has no authority over his caucus, as ANC MPLs seem to come and go as they please.

The DA will again raise these issues at the Programming Committee, the Chief Whips Forum, and the Rules and Orders Committee and should the ANC continue on this path, the DA will consider its options to seek relief to compel the management of Legislature to uphold the institution’s constitutional mandate.

Issued by David van Vuuren, DA Chief Whip in the Free State Provincial Legislature, 30 August 2017