Referral of Speaker of the National Assembly to the Committee for Contempt of Parliament; Committee Matters
Meeting Summary
The Powers and Privileges Committee met on the virtual platform. Minutes of a previous meeting were considered and adopted. It was confirmed that the hearing of the matter involving Mr M Zwane (ANC), a Member of Parliament, would proceed the next week.
The hearing into the incident of the disruption of the 2023 State of the Nation Address would also be heard next week, over three days. It was however pointed out that the accused would submit their substantive postponement application.
The Committee also agreed that Parliament’s legal services should appoint an initiator to start the investigation process regarding the request from Ms S Gwarube (DA) to investigate the Speaker of the National Assembly for contempt of Parliament in relation to the salary of the Secretary to Parliament.
Meeting report
The Chairperson greeted Members in attendance and indicated that the meeting may proceed. No apologies were received. The agenda for the meeting was adopted.
Consideration of Committee minutes dated 20 October 2023
The minutes were considered and adopted.
Matters arising: Committee Programme
The Committee’s Secretariat indicated that there were two matters which the Committee would need to deal with and discuss.
The first matter concerns the hearing of Member of Parliament, Mr M Zwane (ANC). The hearing was scheduled for 24 November and was scheduled for the whole day.
The second matter is in relation to the hearing of the incident which took place on 9 February 2023 at the State of Nation Address (SONA). The hearings would take place from Monday, 20 November, to Wednesday, 22 November. It was also noted that the other side had indicated that they would submit their substantive postponement application on Monday. The Committee requested that that submission must be served to the Committee by no later than the end of business today so that Members would have sufficient time to go through the application over the weekend.
The Chairperson confirmed that both hearings would be ready to go from next week.
Ms D Dlakude (ANC) noted both notices and supported the Chairperson’s view that the Committee should proceed accordingly.
The Chairperson thanked the administrative team for their work and expressed her hope to conclude this matter since it was not good for Members to have accusations hanging over their heads.
Referral of Speaker of the National Assembly to the Committee
The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly has referred the request from Ms S Gwarube (DA) to investigate the Speaker of the National Assembly for contempt of Parliament in relation to the salary of the Secretary to Parliament.
The Committee was advised that the next step would be for the Committee to mandate Parliament’s legal services to procure the services of an initiator.
Both Mr Z Mlenzana (ANC) and Dr M Ndlozi (EFF) agreed with Chairperson’s suggestion.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.
Audio
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Documents
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Present
-
Siwela, Ms VS
Chairperson
ANC -
Dlakude, Ms DE
ANC -
Mlenzana, Mr Z
ANC -
Ndlozi, Dr MQ
EFF -
Tseke, Ms GK
ANC -
Xaba, Mr NV
ANC
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