For the first time, Parliament now has a committee that will perform oversight on the president.
ActionSA is seeking to have the election of the parliamentary oversight committee on the Presidency’s chairperson declared null and void.
The move follows ANC deputy chief whip Doris Mpapane’s election to the position, winning five out of 11 votes this week.
ActionSA unhappy over Presidency committee chair election
The vote came after newly established 11-member committee were unable to reach a consensus on a candidate during Thursday’s proceedings.
The other contenders were ActionSA’s Athol Trollip, who received four votes, and the DA’s Baxolile Nodada, who received two votes.
“Despite this clear irregularity, the DA and ANC support the irregular election result because they form part of the GNU that aligns around protecting the president from accountability in exchange for their luxuries and perks of international travel and blue lights brigades.
“ActionSA will issue a letter to the speaker of the National Assembly to seek that the election is declared invalid and to force the committee, embarrassingly, to reconvene a third time to elect a candidate,” ActionSA national chairperson Micheal Beaumont said in a statement on Friday.
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Can ANC hold the president accountable?
Beaumont said he does not believe that an ANC chairperson will be able to hold President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy, Paul Mashatile, accountable.
“This committee chaired by the ANC will have zero prospect of real accountability.
“Fortunately, ActionSA’s legal challenge to the speaker will likely declare the result invalid and give the DA the chance to do the right thing, for the third time,” he said.
Beaumont is critical of the DA because they refused to support Trollip for the position.
“Opposition parties united behind ActionSA parliamentary leader, and veteran of parliament, Athol Trollip supporting the rationale that the committee on the presidency should not be chaired by a party in the GNU if there is going to be real accountability,” he said.
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DA reacts
Meanwhile, DA chief whip George Michalakis told The Citizen that while the DA was not in support of an ANC candidate being elected, the party also did not want to back Trollip.
“A vote for him would have been as good as a vote for the uMkhonto weSizwe party.
“The DA therefore had no option but to field our own candidate, deputy chief whip Bax Nodada.
“Mr Nodada was sadly unsuccessful, but the DA proudly stood by the principles which we made clear from the start and we respect the democratic process that subsequently unfolded, albeit not ideal.
“We now will use this committee, which the DA spearheaded, to hold the president and the presidency accountable. We wish the new chairperson well,” said Michalakis.
Earlier this week, ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli contended that the ANC is just as capable as any other political party to hold Ramaphosa and Mashatile to account.
But past events have showed that the ANC closes ranks when its leaders in parliament face serious transgressions.
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