Opposition parties reiterate demand for Presidency oversight committee

CAPE TOWN – Opposition parties are not letting up in their demand for a parliamentary portfolio committee that will exercise oversight over the Presidency.

They say the longer Parliament drags its feet on the matter, the more it will again be found wanting.

The repeated call has once again been made as the House prepares to debate the president’s conduct, following findings by an independent panel that he may have violated the Constitution and anti-corruption laws.

The Presidency is the only budget vote that is not directly monitored by Parliament.

The Zondo commission of inquiry has also recommended an oversight committee for this portfolio.

Democratic Alliance (DA) Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube said that given the president’s far-ranging executive powers, the rules committee must stop delaying on the matter.

“If this committee doesn’t change its ways, we will no doubt Nkandla 2.0, state capture 2.0 and Phala Phala 2.0 because the one common denominator is this organisation [the ANC].”

Chief whip of the Freedom Front Plus, Corne Mulder, said that failure to establish such a committee created the wrong impression about holding the president to account.

“It’s unthinkable that the vote of the president does not have an oversight committee. There’s no reason why that should not be the case. The Presidency, like any other branch of the executive, should also be in a position where oversight is being done.”

But the rules sub-committee chairperson, the African National Congress (ANC)’s Richard Dyantyi, said that the demand must be backed up by research.

“You can’t just come here and make wishes that are not based on evidence, that are not based on facts and the journey that we are travelling,” Dyantyi said.

Dyantyi said that the rules sub-committee would be looking at where the gaps were, once an audit had been conducted by Parliament’s budget office.