President Jacob Zuma has decided to face off with confrontational MPs on March 11. That’s the date Zuma has chosen as suitable for him to engage in a verbal question-and-answer session with MPs for the first time since he was disrupted by rowdy EFF lawmakers in August last year.
Well-placed officials have said Zuma’s office wrote to parliament yesterday to inform the national legislature that he was ready to take questions from MPs in the National Assembly on Wednesday March 11, just a month after delivering his annual state of the nation address.
The communique was a terse e-mail sent to National Assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso and his procedural adviser Michael Plaatjies.
Asked for comment, Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj referred the Daily Dispatch sister newspaper The Times to the office of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete before requesting that questions be e-mailed to him. Mbete’s office confirmed the e-mail and said the date would be tabled for the chamber’s programming committee meeting next Thursday.
“Engagements between the office of the Speaker and the Presidency will continue, this to ensure the remainder of the question sessions for the year are scheduled,” said her spokesman Mandlakazi Sigcawu.
This has put paid to months of bitter wrangling between the office of Mbete, the DA and the EFF as well as Zuma’s office.
Zuma’s last parliamentary Q&A ended in chaos on August 21 when Mbete aborted the session after EFF MPs chanted, demanding Zuma pay back the money spent on his Nkandla homestead as recommended by the public protector.
The ANC later said that Zuma would not appear before the National Assembly until the house had sorted out its problems, a reference to the rowdy behaviour in parliament.
Earlier this month, EFF leader Julius Malema wrote to Mbete asking her to schedule a special sitting for Zuma to resume his terminated Q&A before the state of the nation address on February 12 but she declined, saying she was discussing the matter with the president’s office.
When MPs got wind of the news during a meeting of the rules committee, EFF MP and the party’s secretary-general Godrich Gardee quipped: “It should not be March 11, it should be February 11.”
Zuma sets face-off date …
Well-placed officials have said Zuma’s office wrote to parliament yesterday to inform the national legislature that he was ready to take questions from MPs in the National Assembly on Wednesday March 11, just a month after delivering his annual state of the nation address.
The communique was a terse e-mail sent to National Assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso and his procedural adviser Michael Plaatjies.
Asked for comment, Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj referred the Daily Dispatch sister newspaper The Times to the office of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete before requesting that questions be e-mailed to him. Mbete’s office confirmed the e-mail and said the date would be tabled for the chamber’s programming committee meeting next Thursday.
“Engagements between the office of the Speaker and the Presidency will continue, this to ensure the remainder of the question sessions for the year are scheduled,” said her spokesman Mandlakazi Sigcawu.
This has put paid to months of bitter wrangling between the office of Mbete, the DA and the EFF as well as Zuma’s office.
Zuma’s last parliamentary Q&A ended in chaos on August 21 when Mbete aborted the session after EFF MPs chanted, demanding Zuma pay back the money spent on his Nkandla homestead as recommended by the public protector.
The ANC later said that Zuma would not appear before the National Assembly until the house had sorted out its problems, a reference to the rowdy behaviour in parliament.
Earlier this month, EFF leader Julius Malema wrote to Mbete asking her to schedule a special sitting for Zuma to resume his terminated Q&A before the state of the nation address on February 12 but she declined, saying she was discussing the matter with the president’s office.
When MPs got wind of the news during a meeting of the rules committee, EFF MP and the party’s secretary-general Godrich Gardee quipped: “It should not be March 11, it should be February 11.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos