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Two key Democratic Alliance (DA) proposals made in the National Assembly Rules Committee tonight are the first step in ensuring a Parliament that can fulfil its constitutional obligation of executive oversight, robustly.

The DA, supported by all other parties present with the exception of the ANC and IFP, made the following proposals:

 That a separate oversight committee over the Presidency be established.

That interpellations be deemed desirable as an accountability mechanism and that the sub-committee on the rules be tasked with formulating rules to implement it.

In his report into state capture, then Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, stated that “it is not correct that everything for which the President is responsible is delegated to a Minister or department outside of the Presidency. Our recent history also shows that the President’s conduct is not always subjected to adequate oversight by the existing portfolio committees”.

These new rules will ensure that the President and the Department of the Presidency is accountable in full, and not only through occasional oral questions and functions delegated to other members of the Executive. Currently, the Director General (DG) in the Presidency is the only DG in the country not accountable to a committee of Parliament.

Interpellations, which was part of the parliamentary rules until 2000, allows for further engagement between the Executive and MPs.

The DA believes that for our democracy to function effectively, all spheres of government must work. In the parliamentary context, it requires robust debate and executive oversight, to ensure that the government fulfils its functions and obligations in the interest of the public. Parties within the GNU should be confident in the effectiveness and transparency with which they govern, so that all forms of scrutiny can and should be welcomed.

These proposals by the DA re-affirms our commitment to seeing a Parliament that represents the interests of the people. For too long, Parliament has been used as a rubber stamp of the Executive without an appetite to be at the heart of national debate and law making. The DA believes that today’s decision by the NA Rules Committee will ensure that this does not happen again.

Issued by George Michalakis MP -  DA Chief Whip in Parliament