Zuma to face questions on Nkandla, prosecutions head
Wyndham Hartley
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma will take centre stage on Thursday when he faces MPs in the National Assembly in the first oral presidential question time of the fifth democratic Parliament.
But Mr Zuma might well have spiked the guns of Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema by sending his comments on Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on the R246m upgrade to his Nkandla property to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete last Friday.
Mr Malema has a slot on the question paper and will ask when Mr Zuma will respond to Ms Madonsela’s report. It is unclear whether or not the question and any follow-up questions will be allowed.
Also likely to excite controversy on Thursday will be a question to Mr Zuma from Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane on when the president will table the terms of reference and the time frame for the investigation into whether National Prosecuting Authority director Mxolisi Nxasana was fit to hold such an important office.
Mr Nxasana has been under pressure following revelations that he failed to reveal that he was once charged and acquitted of murder.
African National Congress MP Joan Fubbs has asked Mr Zuma the question: “Given that SA pursued the growth, employment and redistribution plan and the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for SA, what is the relationship of the New Growth Path to the National Development Plan (NDP) and where does the Industrial Policy Action Plan fit in the context of the NDP?”
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Albert Mncwango will ask Mr Zuma when he expects “to reach a decision regarding the outstanding, but still pending, applications for presidential pardon in terms of the special dispensation process” with particular reference to IFP applications for pardon.
Due to be heard in the High Court tomorrow is the DA application to have the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief operating officer reviewed and set aside.
The appointment, effected last month, has consistently been criticised for failing to take into account Ms Madonsela’s findings on Mr Motsoeneng in a report on corruption at the national broadcaster.
Communications Minister Faith Muthambi has filed papers opposing the court application on Mr Motsoeneng’s appointment.
Ms Madonsela found that while he was the SABC’s acting chief operating officer, Mr Motsoeneng had increased his own salary from R1.5m to R2.4m in one year, had purged senior staff, and misrepresented his matric qualifications. Ms Madonsela recommended that someone else be appointed.
From tomorrow, MPs will be back at work after their winter break. There is a full schedule of committees.
The portfolio committee on com- munications will be briefed by Public Service and Administration Minister Collins Chabane on the proclamation on the new department and its reporting entities.
Also scheduled is a joint meeting of the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services, and the committee on women in the Presidency.
The committee on women in the Presidency will listen to a briefing by the Commission for Gender Equity, the South African Human Rights Commission, and the office of the public protector.
On Wednesday the committee on rural development and land reform will be brought up to speed on the reopening of land claims by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.
MPs will be given an overview on the first month of reopening of lodgment of land claims.
On Friday the justice and correctional services committee will meet again to discuss policy on the appointment of insolvency practitioners.
Also tomorrow, former DA leader Tony Leon will discuss his book, Opposite Mandela, at the University of Johannesburg.
The book details Mr Leon’s time as a political party leader in the National Assembly under the government led by the late Nelson Mandela.
In Cape Town, SA’s 20-year review by the Human Sciences Research Council is scheduled for the Taj Hotel tomorrow evening.