A Pushes For Zuma Appearance In Parly

The presidency’s claim that President Jacob Zuma is fulfilling his parliamentary duties is “fundamentally wrong” said Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mmusi Maimane on Tuesday. This after spokesperson Mac Maharaj said Zuma is required to answer questions in Parliament four times a year, but because he is not a Member of Parliament, he is only required to answer questions by invitation and has so far fulfilled his role.

“The President has failed to meet his obligation in terms of the Rules to appear in Parliament four times a year, once per quarter, to answer oral questions. His only such appearance, on 21 August 2014 dealt with just three questions,” said Maimane.

Maimane said the president has not answered a full session of oral questions, and has attended only one session since his inauguration in May.

“The President attending a sitting of the House, or delivering a speech, is irrelevant to his constitutional and parliamentary duty to answer oral questions,” he said.

“When the President sits and observes Parliament that does not in any way make him accountable to Parliament, as oral questions do.”

Maimane said the party would bring up the matter in the Chief Whip’s Forum on Tuesday, and will once again argue for the President to be summoned to answer questions on Thursday.

Maharaj said Zuma would continue to answer questions in writing and when invited to orally respond to questions in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.

“The presidency is working on the president’s calendar for 2015 and as usual it will include parliamentary responsibilities at the required times, for example Sona [state-of-the-nation-address], the budget speech by the minister of finance, the budget vote of the presidency, and questions,” said Maharaj.

“We wish to emphasise that there should be no expectation that the president will appear regularly in Parliament, given the fact that he is not a Member of Parliament.”

The president’s first appearance in the National Assembly since his inauguration ended in chaos when proceedings were disrupted by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs asking when Zuma would pay back the money for the upgrades to his private Nkandla home.

Since then, opposition parties have criticised Zuma for not appearing more in the National Assembly.

photo credit: michaelhebb via photopin cc

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