DA calls for tough stance on Dlamini

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete must move swiftly to give effect to the Constitutional Court judgment instructing parliament to hold Minister of Social Security Bathabile Dlamini to account‚ the Democratic Alliance says.

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said yest the party believed that the speaker should‚ without delay‚ establish an ad hoc committee in accordance with the mandate set out in the DA’s notice of motion submitted on March 15.

He noted that in its judgment‚ the Constitutional Court had been unequivocal in finding that: “The office-holder ultimately responsible for the crisis and the events that led to it is the person who holds executive political office. It is the minister who is required in terms of the Constitution to account to parliament. That is the minister‚ and the minister alone.”

“Mbete’s indefensible bias and slavish commitment to protecting the executive facilitated‚ at least for a while‚ the most extraordinary evading of accountability in the Nkandla matter‚ until the Constitutional Court put an end to it‚ Steenhuisen asserted.

More recently‚ and without Constitutional Court intervention‚ an ad hoc committee established to probe the shambles at the SABC had forced Minister of Communications‚ Faith Muthambi to finally account for her role in the crisis‚ he added.

“It is our hope that the good faith and multiparty cooperation shown in this committee can be replicated‚ and that Dlamini can finally be forced to account to parliament‚ as ordered by the Constitutional Court.

“Members of the executive routinely shirk their constitutional duty to account to parliament and the speaker has become their everwilling accomplice. Now‚ thanks to the integrity and impartiality of the Constitutional Court‚ time has run out for dodging Dlamini.”