By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Parliament will hold a special sitting of the National Assembly on December 6 to deal with the report of the independent panel of experts probing the Phala Phala allegations.
This after the National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula extended the independent panel’s deadline by 13 days. Parliament was due to rise the very next day.
In considering the request, Mapisa-Nqakula was mindful that rules governing the Section 89 process do not provide for a deadline extension for the panel to submit its report.
She invoked Rule 6 – which deals with unforeseen circumstances – to accede to the panel’s request. In terms of this rule, the speaker may give a ruling or frame a rule in respect of any eventuality for which the rules or orders of the House do not provide, having due regard to the procedures, precedents, practices and conventions developed by the House, and based on constitutional values and principles underpinning an open, accountable and democratic society.
She extended the deadline from 17 November to 30 November.
The panel has to determine whether there is a prima facie case for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s impeachment over the Phala Phala matter.
The panel believes that it is in the public interest that an inquiry “of this nature be scrupulously conducted and all the information and submissions placed before it is carefully considered”.
National Assembly programming whip Mina Lesoma revealed on Thursday the house will extend its programme by a few days to process the much-awaited report.
We are suggesting, having followed due processes in terms of consultations, that on December 6, a hybrid plenary must be scheduled to deal with those matters,” said Lesoma.
Her proposal was roundly welcomed by opposition MPs in the assembly’s programming committee.
The report will be made public before it goes to the house, MPs heard.
Meanwhile the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said it welcomed Parliament’s decision to debate the Phala Phala report on 6 December 2022.
The party said the request for the extension on Wednesday, was granted due to “political manoeuvring and the complicity of a factional Speaker of Parliament”.
The party added: “It is without a shadow of a doubt that the plan was to ensure Ramaphosa heads into the [elective conference], where he seeks a second term, without being exposed for his criminal activity.”
If the details of the report were only to be released at a later stage, Ramaphosa would be able to “secure his political interests”, the EFF said.
“The EFF is pleased that the plan to delay holding Ramaphosa accountable for laundering money, abduction, concealment of crime and misuse of state resources has failed dismally.”
The red berets took some of the credit, saying their efforts, coupled with other “principled parties, refused to allow justice to be delayed to suit Ramaphosa’s political aspirations”.
The party vowed to “explore mechanisms to ensure Parliament sits on a special basis… to implement recommendations from the panel.”
The party looks forward to seeing Ramaphosa exposed as a “Mafia President [who] operates the criminal underworld”.
“It is in the interest of the Constitution and the future of South Africa that Ramaphosa is exposed and ultimately impeached for breaking his oath of office and humiliating this country with his dodgy antics on Phala Phala.