No response yet to NFP, DA requests for urgent sitting of Parliament

THE NFP and the DA have yet to receive responses from National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise to their request for an urgent sitting and reconvening of Parliament so that MPs can play their oversight role.

The two parties have so far received only an acknowledgement of their correspondence indicating their that requests were being considered.

Yesterday, NFP MP Munzoor Shaik Emam said Modise’s office only confirmed that they had received his letter and were processing it.

“It is not right at all. There is a crisis, and we called for a sitting in order for the MPs to come discuss what is happening,” said Shaik Emam.

He said it was important that there was a special sitting in light of fears of a second and a third wave of unrest.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed that Modise had not yet responded to the requests made last week by the DA and the NFP. The NFP made its request for an urgent sitting last Monday, a day before the DA wrote to Modise asking that the constituency period that ends on August 15 be cut short so that MPs could return to the national legislature.

In her letter, DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said people needed to see

MPs working to fix the country.

Since the outbreak of the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, only three committees – defence, police and intelligence – have convened to receive briefings from the departments.

DA MP Jan de Villiers said the small business development portfolio committee should urgently convene to consider the government’s assistance to small and medium-sized businesses affected by the looting and vandalism.