Zuma never disobeyed rules, Radebe tells cabinet

President Jacob Zuma has never disobeyed the rules of Parliament, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said today.

Accusations by opposition parties that Zuma had failed in his duty to submit to oral question time in the National Assembly four times a year, as required by parliamentary rules, were misleading, he told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday’s fortnightly Cabinet meeting.

“Parliament invites the president to answer questions to Parliament,” Radebe said.

“Every time he has been requested he has obliged to answer questions so this notion that is being perpetuated by the propaganda machinery of the opposition that the president has refused to come... is totally wrong.”

Zuma has only appeared in the National Assembly to answer questions once this year, on August 21.

The sitting was suspended after Economic Freedom Fighters MPs caused disruptions by chanting “pay back the money” at Zuma, a reference to taxpayers’ money spent on upgrading his Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, homestead.

These and other incidents which occurred in the National Assembly over the past few weeks had been on the Cabinet agenda.

“The integrity of Parliament as a democratic institution must be protected and guarded by all members,” Radebe said.

“The unruly behaviour erodes accountability to all South Africans and detracts from Parliament’s role to uphold the values and principles enshrined in the Constitution.”