Committee established to deal with recent issues in Parliament

Oscar Thomas
19 November 2014

Opposition parties on Tuesday agreed to work together to ensure that the rules and procedures are applied constantly without any favour, prejudice and applied fairly.

This is after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa met with opposition parties following the chaos which erupted in Parliament last week Thursday and riot police were called into the chamber.

Ramaphosa said we have agreed that what we are going to do is address various matters that have occurred in the past and matters that have to do with the application of the rules, matters of principle.

Ramaphosa said we will address them through a committee that will be set up.

This committee will start meeting next week and we will address key issues that have to do with the proper functioning of Parliament.

Meanwhile Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the opposition parties on Tuesday in his capacity as Leader of Government Business. 

Ramaphosa said insults in the house need to stop and proper debate on issues needs to happen.

Ramaphosa said a committee was established during the meeting to deal with the recent issues which have taken place in Parliament in recent weeks.

Ramaphosa said all leaders yearned for a Parliament where there is decorum, where debates are conducted in a constructive manner with no disrespectful insults being thrown at anyone.

Deputy President Ramaphosa said there was also an agreement that a climate where members of the executive can appear before Parliament to account needed to be created.

“The newly formed committee would also look at the rules and procedures of the National Assembly to ensure that presiding officers implement them without any favour or bias towards any political party Ramaphosa added.