ANC again fails to appoint PSC commissioner due to no-show by MPs
House chairperson Cedric Frolick said the vote would have to be postponed because it did not meet the Constitutional requirements.
Cedric Frolick, National Assembly house chairman. File picture: Tracey Adams / ANA
For the second time, the ANC hasn’t been able get enough of its members into the National Assembly to push through its nomination for commissioner of the Public Service Commission (PSC) – former Msunduzi mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo.
On November 26, the approval of Hlatshwayo’s nomination had to be postponed, because there weren’t enough MPs voting in favour of her appointment.
This happened again on Wednesday, the National Assembly’s final sitting for the year, when only 176 MPs voted in favour, and 91 against.
House chairperson Cedric Frolick said the vote would have to be postponed because it did not meet the Constitutional requirements.
The appointment of a commissioner of the PSC must be approved by a majority of the house – 201 votes.
Last week, the portfolio committee on public service and administration nominated Hlatshwayo for the PSC.
Hlatshwayo was the ANC’s mayor of Msunduzi from 2007 to 2010.
In March 2010, the KwaZulu-Natal Executive Committee put the municipality under administration because of its financial status, non-compliance with various statutory obligations relating to finances, institutional and governance matters, and a lack of oversight by the council.
Hlatshwayo and her executive were then removed.
Soon after losing the mayoral chain, Hlatshwayo was appointed at the KwaZulu-Natal’s health department.
She was 33rd on the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial to national list in the May 2019 elections, but didn’t make it to Parliament.
Opposition parties, with the DA being particularly vocal, opposed Hlatshwayo’s appointment as PSC commissioner. The DA cheered and applauded when Frolick announced that there were not enough votes to appoint her.
After dealing with the PSC commissioner, the National Assembly considered the nomination of advocate Kholeka Gcaleka for Deputy Public Protector. After a heated debate, Frolick postponed the vote to later in the day to ensure a quorum.
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