MPs want Ramaphosa back in Parliament ‘urgent as possible’, to answer Phala Phala questions

National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says she will write to President Cyril Ramaphosa to request him to provide a date when he can return to answer questions on the Phala Phala farm robbery.

Chaos broke out in Parliament on Tuesday during Ramaphosa’s Q&A session, leading to the Parliamentary Security Services (PSS) being called in to escort some “unparliamentary” Members of Parliament (MPs) out of the house.

Ramaphosa had enraged MPs for refusing to answer a string of questions about the alleged millions stolen in February 2020 from his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.

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The president insisted that he would let the investigative process be completed before commenting on the matter, with proceedings then being adjourned after there was agreement on the session being rescheduled.

While the Presidency has argued that Ramaphosa “did, in fact, answer the questions“, the opposition in Parliament remains unhappy over the president’s refusal to “take the nation into his confidence”.

Chief whips forum

During Thursday’s Programme Committee meeting, some MPs said they want the president to return to the National Assembly to answer unfinished questions that were disrupted by the chaos.

The ANC said it was of the view that Ramaphosa should answer the remaining questions in writing.

“We had our chief whips forum meeting yesterday where this matter was discussed. [But] unfortunately we all know that we are different political parties [so] we couldn’t reach an agreement, reasons being that we as the ANC believe that we shouldn’t step away from our rules,” ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude said.

“Rule 140(4) [of the National Assembly] speaks to the allocated time for questions to the president, which is three hours. Then Rule 143 speaks to unanswered questions which must be responded to in writing and we believe that this has been done even though that ruling was not made in the House,” she continued to say.

READ MORE: Phala Phala: Lamola says political pressure on NPA to prosecute is ‘interference’

Dlakude proposed that the questions be rescheduled to the next oral question session on 29 September.

“Why we are proposing this, because as Parliament we are guided by the Presidency based on the availability [of the president]. So, we don’t want to dictate when the president must come because that might create problems for us,” she said.

However, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) argued against this, insisting that the president return next week, which was backed by the African Transformation Movement (ATM).

“We did not object to [the Speaker’s] decision at the end of the sitting of the House on Tuesday because when [she] asked for an adjournment for two minutes it was on the basis of the proposal, which was seconded by almost all opposition parties, to say that let us reconstitute the oral question session to a different, but it must be as urgent as possible and must not be the 29th of September,” EFF deputy leader, Floyd Shivambu said.

Letter to Ramaphosa

Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Narend Singh proposed that the Speaker write a letter to the president to find out when he can return to the National Assembly.

Responding to the points made by the MPs, Mapisa-Nqakula explained that she had hoped the chief whip forum would reach an agreement on a way forward, hence the adjournment of Tuesday’s session.

“The president, as you know, appears before the House for questions four times during an annual session in terms of our rules, therefore, when he does appear we ought to use that opportunity effectively.

READ MORE: Phala Phala: Ramaphosa has until 8 September to respond to Reserve Bank

“I must express I’m disappointed at the turn of events both during that sitting, but also on the fact that the [chief whips] could not find one another and provide guidance to the Programming Committee on the matter.

“The Assembly and Speaker in particular should never create an impression that she or he is not willing to hold the executive accountable. That was not my intention,” she said.

The Speaker further confirmed that she would indeed write to Ramaphosa.

“I cannot make a determination on the availability of the president. I am not the one who runs his diary, so I will write to the president and I would expect that the president will then respond and advise us on a date of his availability,” she said.