A subcommittee to look into the seating arrangements of political parties in the House will also be considered as some of the parties are now part of government.
Secretary to the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso says, “There are 32 ministries that have been established and therefore we are proposing that 30 portfolio committees be established that are in line with the ministries that have been created. And what we are saying also towards the end in the Sixth Parliament, we had 27 portfolio committees. The increase is occasioned by the separation of Agriculture from Rural Development and Land Reform, Science and Technology from Higher Education as well as the creation of Electricity and Energy. Correctional Service (was also) separated from Justice and that Electricity (Ministry) did not have a portfolio committee before and now it does. We also state that this excludes joint committees.”
Another committee that may be established is one that would hold The Presidency to account, as Xaso adds: “In the last Parliament, there was a matter about a committee to deal with vote 1 and the proposed recommendation from last parliament was that that committee could be the committee on monitoring and evaluation which will deal with the issues of vote 1 and that is a recommendation we would want to make in this instance if there is still a view that such a committee should still be established.”
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Chief Whip, Veronica Mente, vigorously raised the issue of new seating arrangements and which party should fill the title of official opposition.
“Yesterday in the chief whip’s forum, we agreed that we will come here and sort of establish a principle in terms of the seating arrangement and determine the opposition. I know that the modalities will be dealt with in the sub-committee of rules. But in terms of the seating arrangement and because government has now been constituted, we all know that and we live to that reality and people that are in government must be in government and the people that are opposition must be in the opposition. With that said, it means that MK (uMkhontho weSizwe Party) is opposition and then the MK must give us a leader of the opposition and the whip of the opposition with the deputy whip of the opposition. So, that principle must be established, even if it goes to sub rules, they will be dealing with the nitty gritties of term and all of those things but reality is GNU is in action.”
National Assembly Speaker and Rules Committee Chairperson, Thoko Didiza, agreed on the urgency of a subcommittee meeting.
“I don’t think there is a debate around the principle that it has to be established but the request is that can the subcommittee bring us a comprehensive report and as soon as possible, that committee must meet.”
The National Assembly Rules Committee also noted that Joint Committees will have to be established by the Joint Rules Committee of Parliament which consists of both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) rules committees.
VIDEO | National Assembly Rules Committee proposes an increase in the number of committees:
Expelled uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party founder Jabulani Khumalo will not be sworn in as a party member of Parliament.
This comes after he lost his last-minute bid to be sworn in as a member of the National Assembly on Thursday.
The Western Cape High Court has dismissed his urgent court application and struck it off the roll with costs.
Khumalo challenged the matter on an urgent basis after he was informed by the Secretary to Parliament that he will not be sworn in.
He challenged his expulsion from the party and wanted to be reinstated on the national list.
In handing down judgment, Western Cape High Court Judge Derek Bille said: “The order is as follows, having considered the papers and the arguments of the applicant and the third and fourth respondents, it is ordered that 1, the application is struck off the roll as urgency has not been demonstrated as required by rule 6 (12) of the uniform rules of the court. The applicant shall be liable for the cost confidential to the application and party scale as the text has agreed. The cost of counsel shall be following scale C. The court stand adjourned.”
VIDEO | High Court rejects Khumalo’s last attempt to join National Assembly:
Meanwhile, MK Party’s lawyer Barnabas Xulu welcomed the court order saying there were no grounds for a successful challenge by Khumalo.
“It confirms what uMkhonto weSizwe Party had maintained that Khumalo is no longer a member of the MK Party and therefore, he is not qualified to participate in tomorrow’s sitting of Parliament. We are vindicated, the fact of the matter is very clear that section 43 (C) makes it clear that if you are not a member of any political party you can’t be a member of the National Assembly.”
A Professor of Politics at UNISA, Dirk Kotze, says members of the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party still have an opportunity to be sworn in after the first sittings of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The National Assembly sitting is scheduled to take place on Friday morning while the NCOP one is expected to take place on Saturday.
The party is challenging the 2024 election results outcome.
The MK party is currently the third largest political party which garnered 58 seats in the Assembly.
Kotze says nothing disqualifies the MK members from taking their seats later.
“It doesn’t mean that they are completely excluded from Parliament or disqualified from Parliament but what they will not be able to do, is they will not be sworn in as members of Parliament with all the others. They will not be able to participate in the election of the President, the Speaker, or the Deputy Speaker but when they decide they want to come back to Parliament they can do so. They have been elected. Nothing disqualifies them. Then a judge will have to swear them in as members of Parliament. Once they have done that they will become part of the community of Parliamentarians in the National Assembly.”
Meanwhile, Parliament says it has cancelled all flight and accommodation arrangements for members of the MK party, in light of the party informing the institution that they will not attend the first sitting.
Parliament’s Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo says they take note of the MK party’s intent to challenge the validity of the election results.
VIDEO | MK Party’s boycott won’t stop Parly’s first sitting:
The election of a President by the National Assembly will only take place at the first sitting presided over by the Chief Justice.
In terms of Section 88 (1) of the Constitution, the President’s term of office begins on assuming office and ends upon a vacancy occurring or when the person next elected President assumes office.
This means, President Ramaphosa is still President until the next person elected by the Assembly takes over.
Similarly Section 94 of the Constitution, which refers to continuation of cabinet after elections sates: “When an election of the National Assembly is held, the Cabinet, the Deputy President, Ministers and any Deputy Ministers remain competent to function until the person elected President by the next Assembly, assumes office.”
As the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is still expected to officially release the results of the general elections, preliminary results reveal that the African National Congress (ANC) would lose about 70 seats in the National Assembly.
The party has received just over 40% of the votes when compared to 57.5% in the 6th Parliament.
While various new political parties have made some significant gains after contesting elections for the first time, the ANC will lose its grip in the Assembly.
The majority party held 230 seats in the Assembly during the 6th Parliament.
