IT’S TIME TO SHUN EFF’S ROWDY CONDUCT

18 June 2015

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip notes today’s adjournment of the sitting of the National Assembly, which was scheduled for question for oral reply by the President, due to yet another disruptive conduct of the EFF.  The party made the House impossible to proceed with its business and the President to provide answers to the MP’s questions, leaving the Speaker with no option but to adjourn the session.

It is clear that the EFF came to today’s sitting with a clear purpose and orchestrated plan to disrupt the sitting. The party demanded, in clear violation of the longstanding procedure and rules of the House, that the President must first answer a question which was not included in the question paper prior to the sitting.

The rules stipulate that a member who wishes to ask a question in the House must submit prior to the sitting of that House for inclusion in the Question Paper of Parliament. Having missed this opportunity, the other option available at the EFF’s disposal was to ask the additional question as a follow-up to the questions that are already printed on the Question Paper. But clearly the intention was never to ask a question or to hold the President to account, but to stage some publicity stunt through disrupting the House and rendering it dysfunctional.  

The EFF’s pursuance of self-seeking headlines-grabbing stunts knows no bounds, and would stop at nothing even it means rendering unworkable the sanctity and decorum of an important constitutional institution such as Parliament. Whenever such silly and narrow stunts play themselves out, and threaten the functionality of Parliament, the real losers are the people whose hopes and aspirations rests on the shoulders of the institution to hold the executive to account and to improve the quality of their lives.

The President was invited by Parliament, and he duly made himself available, to account to the nation on a wide range of issues pertaining to the work of government. It is gravely unfortunate that the repugnant conduct of one party prevented him to account to the nation. This has to come to an end! As parliamentary parties, we owe it to the nation to ensure that this important institution of our constitutional democracy is functional, effective and continues to enjoy the confidence of the people of South Africa.

A conducive environment ought to be created, firmly in line with the Constitution and parliamentary rules, to ensure that those who have nothing to offer the electorate, whose sole raison d'être is indulging in an orgy of publicity stunts at the expense of parliament’s constitutional role, are isolated and shunned.

We shall work with those who share our common interest of protecting and defending this institution against rampant acts of hooliganism.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, June 18 2015