National Assembly rebuffs DA’s ad hoc call

THE NATIONAL Assembly has dismissed calls for the formation of an ad hoc committee to play oversight over the Cabinet and state organs during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Instead, it has called on MPs to conduct oversight in their own constituencies and communities, and also use other avenues provided for in the Constitution to execute their roles.

This comes after DA leader John Steenhuisen wrote to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise urging her to use one of the parliamentary rules to establish such an ad hoc committee.

Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli said at the weekend he fully endorsed Parliament’s decision that parties continue to exercise oversight as envisaged by the Constitution during this crisis.

“The task specified in Mr Steenhuisen’s correspondence, however, was so broad and of such a nature that it would not be feasible to expect a single ad hoc committee to perform it, “Tsenoli said.

He said the existing portfolio committees had the necessary powers to deal with the matters raised in Steenhuisen’s letter.

Tsenoli said Parliament was using ICT for parliamentary committees and members to effectively continue to engage in their oversight and monitoring role.

Steenhuisen said Tsenoli failed to realise that the the lockdown has led to the National Command Council which created a unique scenario where the government implemented out of the ordinary programmes and could not be effectively held to account by Parliament’s existing committees.

“In its oversight role, Parliament is supposed to mirror government in order to exercise oversight comprehensively. Because the structure of government has adapted to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak, so must Parliament adapt its oversight capacity to oversee. This is precisely why I have called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee.”

Steenhuisen also said Tsenoli’s statement that Parliament was using ICT for parliamentary committees to effectively continue to engage in their oversight was worryingly misleading.