Nowhere in the world would members of a legislature be sanctioned because they were party to legally questionable decisions being made‚ according to Jackson Mthembu.
The African National Congress’ (ANC) chief whip described as “baffling and uninformed” the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) lodging of complaints with Parliament’s Ethics Committee against the speaker Baleka Mbete and ruling party MPs who voted to protect President Jacob Zuma from being removed from office in an impeachment motion on Tuesday.
“It is to be expected that the likes of the DA would seek to make maximum political capital out of the Constitutional Court judgment even through absurd publicity stunts‚ some of which not only border on self-parody but makes a mockery of serious parliamentary committees‚” said Mthembu.
“It is unheard of anywhere in the world that MPs would be penalised for fulfilling their parliamentary duties merely because certain decisions of parliament are‚ from time to time‚ set aside after a judicial review.”
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said on Thursday that the ANC caucus must be held accountable for the complacency in this “maniacal miscarriage of justice”‚ and that the DA would do everything in its power to ensure that they were.
Mthembu countered: “If the DA’s bizarre logic was to be believed‚ history would be replete with thousands of MPs of various parties‚ who as part of Parliament‚ passed pieces of legislation or other decisions which were later overturned by the courts.
“Our system of checks and balances is self-corrective in nature‚ it ensures that where unconstitutionalities happen – as they would in any vibrant constitutional democracy – they are picked up and corrected. This augurs well for the strengthening of our state institutions and our democracy.”
Steenhuisen had attacked Mthembu for calling “a press conference to place the blame for the National Assembly’s poor processing of the public protector’s report on the millions of rand spent on the President’s private residence on Parliament’s legal advisors and a cabinet and caucus-wide ‘misunderstanding”.
“It is‚ however‚ important to remember that Parliament’s legal advisors are not the ones seated in the NA‚ and last August used their majority to pass a resolution that purported effectively to nullify the findings made and the remedial action taken‚ by the public protector and replacing it with its own findings and ‘remedial action’. The ANC are‚ and we challenge the chief whip to make those legal opinions public‚” Steenhuisen stated.
Mthembu: MPs get it wrong from ‘time to time’
The African National Congress’ (ANC) chief whip described as “baffling and uninformed” the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) lodging of complaints with Parliament’s Ethics Committee against the speaker Baleka Mbete and ruling party MPs who voted to protect President Jacob Zuma from being removed from office in an impeachment motion on Tuesday.
“It is to be expected that the likes of the DA would seek to make maximum political capital out of the Constitutional Court judgment even through absurd publicity stunts‚ some of which not only border on self-parody but makes a mockery of serious parliamentary committees‚” said Mthembu.
“It is unheard of anywhere in the world that MPs would be penalised for fulfilling their parliamentary duties merely because certain decisions of parliament are‚ from time to time‚ set aside after a judicial review.”
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said on Thursday that the ANC caucus must be held accountable for the complacency in this “maniacal miscarriage of justice”‚ and that the DA would do everything in its power to ensure that they were.
Mthembu countered: “If the DA’s bizarre logic was to be believed‚ history would be replete with thousands of MPs of various parties‚ who as part of Parliament‚ passed pieces of legislation or other decisions which were later overturned by the courts.
“Our system of checks and balances is self-corrective in nature‚ it ensures that where unconstitutionalities happen – as they would in any vibrant constitutional democracy – they are picked up and corrected. This augurs well for the strengthening of our state institutions and our democracy.”
Steenhuisen had attacked Mthembu for calling “a press conference to place the blame for the National Assembly’s poor processing of the public protector’s report on the millions of rand spent on the President’s private residence on Parliament’s legal advisors and a cabinet and caucus-wide ‘misunderstanding”.
“It is‚ however‚ important to remember that Parliament’s legal advisors are not the ones seated in the NA‚ and last August used their majority to pass a resolution that purported effectively to nullify the findings made and the remedial action taken‚ by the public protector and replacing it with its own findings and ‘remedial action’. The ANC are‚ and we challenge the chief whip to make those legal opinions public‚” Steenhuisen stated.
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