The time has come for Parliament to also have oversight over the President and the office of the Presidency. It is required by South Africa's Constitution and it cannot be ignored any longer.
Section 55(2)(a) and (b) of the Constitution determines that the National Assembly must provide for mechanisms "to ensure that all executive organs of state in the national sphere of government are accountable to it" and to maintain oversight of (i) "the exercise of national executive authority, including the implementation of legislation…"
Action should not only be taken against the members of the executive authority who are guilty of offences, but also against Members of Parliament who are guilty of misconduct as it occurs on a regular basis.
With its arrival in Parliament in 2014, the EFF said that it wants to bring a revolution to Parliament and the party is sticking to that objective. Parliament, however, is not a place to start a revolution, but a debate. If you are unable to persuade by means of logical reasoning, you cannot revert to intimidating others. That is not what debating entails.
Just last week, members of the EFF were removed from the National Assembly after they disrupted the debate of the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan. But they simply went to another session where they continued to participate in the debate.
There were no consequences for their actions. Such actions are unacceptable and must not be tolerated. Members guilty of misconduct must not only be escorted out of the council chamber, but must also be removed from Parliament's premises altogether.
The FF Plus wants to suggest that the EFF's misconduct must be punished by deducting money from offenders' salaries so that they can no longer pay their exorbitant clothing accounts or expensive German cars.
Parliament's credibility and integrity must be restored as it reached an all-time low with Nkandla in the previous term.
We now have the opportunity to do this and the FF Plus undertakes to help build up Parliament so that it becomes the esteemed institution that the public deserves. The FF Plus simultaneously undertakes to no longer tolerate Parliament being undermined by those who want a revolution.
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