National Assembly Rules Committee Minutes of Proceedings

Meeting report

Chairperson: Speaker of the National Assembly

Present:
Mfeketo, N M (Deputy Speaker); Hajaig, F (House Chairperson); Skosana, M B (House Chairperson); Sizani, S P (Chief Whip of the Majority Party); Dlakude, D E (Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party); Booi, M S (ANC – co‑opted member); Fubbs, J L (ANC); Gaum, A H (ANC); Gina, N (ANC); Kalyan, S V (DA); Khunou, N P (ANC); Kilian, J D (Cope); Koornhof, N J J v R (Cope); Kubayi, M T (ANC); Landers L T (ANC); Mdakane, M R (ANC); Moloi-Moropa, J C (ANC); Mulder, C P (FF Plus); Njikelana, S J (ANC); Schäfer, D A (DA); Sibanyoni, J B (ANC); Suka, L (ANC – co-opted member); Sunduza, T B (ANC – co‑opted member) and Thibedi, J D (ANC).

Staff in attendance:
M Xaso (Secretary to the National Assembly); Z Adhikarie (Chief Legal Adviser); M Griebenow and T Abell (NA Table).

1.         Opening and welcome

The Speaker opened the meeting at 17:39.

2.         Apologies (Agenda item 1)

Apologies were tendered on behalf of Mr C T Frolick (House Chairperson), Mr A Watson (Chief Whip of the Opposition), Mr M Johnson (ANC), Mr M I Malale, Mr A F Muthambi (ANC) and Mr J H van der Merwe (IFP).

3.         Consideration of agenda (Agenda item 2)

On the proposal of the Speaker, the agenda as presented was agreed to.

4.         Consideration of draft minutes of 20 August 2013 (Agenda item 3)

On the proposal of Mrs S V Kalyan, seconded by Ms N P Khunou, the draft minutes of 20 August 2013 were agreed to with the following amendment: The addition of the name of Ms M T Kubayi to the apologies tendered.

Report on court proceedings on provision for motions of no confidence in the Rules of the National Assembly (Agenda item 5)

Adv Adhikarie reminded members that she had indicated at the last meeting of the Rules Committee that judgment in the Constitutional Court case on motions of no confidence was imminent and, in fact, three days after the meeting, judgment had been delivered.

She proceeded to explain that the court had given judgment on two matters that were relevant to the Rules Committee, namely whether the Speaker had the power to schedule a motion of no confidence on his own authority and whether the Rules were inconsistent with the Constitution to the extent that they did not provide for motions of no confidence.

Adv Adhikarie reported that the court had found, on a proper reading of the rules, that the Speaker acting alone had no residual power to schedule a motion of no confidence for debate. It had further found that the rules should make specific provision for a vote to take place in the Assembly and that a lacuna existed in the rules in that respect as there was no deadlock‑breaking mechanism in the Programme Committee. The court declared that the rules had to be amended to give express effect to that provision, so that the motion of no confidence could be accorded priority and scheduled within a reasonable period of time given the programme of the Assembly.

Adv Adhikarie concluded that the rules had therefore been found to be inconsistent with section 102 of the Constitution. The court, however, suspended the declaration for six months from the date of the judgment to give the Assembly an opportunity to effect the necessary amendments to the rules.

Ms Kubayi asked whether the process of adjusting the rules would be continued from where it had been left off, as she had understood that the Constitutional Court ruling was very similar to that of Judge Davis, or whether it would be restarted.

Ms Schäfer proposed that the previous discussions be used as a starting point and adjusted as required by the Constitutional Court judgment.

The Speaker confirmed that all the work previously done by the Rules Committee and its subcommittee would be taken into consideration by the Subcommittee on Review of the Assembly Rules.

On the proposal of the Speaker, it was
AGREED: That  -
(a)        the judgment of the Constitutional Court pertaining to the provision for motions of no confidence in the Rules of the National Assembly be referred to the Subcommittee on Review of the National Assembly Rules to draft the necessary rules; and
(b)        the Subcommittee present its report and draft rules to the first meeting of the Rules Committee in 2014.

Appointment of chairperson for Subcommittee on Review of the National Assembly Rules (Agenda item 6)

The Speaker reminded the meeting that the position of chairperson of the Subcommittee on Review of the Assembly Rules had become vacant following a Cabinet reshuffle.

In terms of Rule 173, the Rules Committee has to appoint a member of the subcommittee as chairperson, but the matter had been deferred at the previous meeting.

On the proposal of the Chief Whip of the Majority Party, it was
AGREED: That Adv J H de Lange be appointed as chairperson of the Subcommittee on Review of the National Assembly Rules.

4.         Closing (Agenda item 7)

The Speaker remarked that it was the last meeting of the Rules Committee for the year. He thanked members of the Committee for the good working relationship they had enjoyed in the past year.
The meeting adjourned at 18:01.