To oppose or not to oppose? Parliament yet to make decision on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala papers

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is yet to decide whether Parliament will oppose President Cyril Ramaphosa’s review application.

Ramaphosa has asked the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to review and set aside the Section 89 panel’s report, which found the president had a case to answer on the Phala Phala farm burglary scandal.

In his papers, the president has cited Parliament as a respondent.

Legal advice

Asked whether Parliament will oppose the application during National Assembly’s Programming Committee meeting on Monday night, Mapisa-Nqakula said she was still receiving legal advice on the matter.

“My response to you was firstly we are studying the papers, the president’s review of the report application thereof and then following that, I then should get a legal opinion. I am not a legal guru. Politically yes, I do have an appreciation that this was a process initiated by Parliament and whatever we do we will have to take that into consideration,” she said.

The Speaker insisted that she would not be pressurised late at night to make a decision.

“So, I don’t think this is fair that at this time at 10 o’clock I should be pressured [into giving a position], because I don’t even know what the document says, and I don’t know if we agree with everything, or we do not agree with things that are raised in the document.”

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She also said that she would advise MPs upon receiving legal advice, adding that she will get another opinion from a senior counsel if Parliament’s legal opinion was not clear on the matter.

“I think that we should give ourselves time to go through the report and then look at the advice that we are receiving and then proceed.

“We will not hide it from you, we will definitely inform you about what route we are taking because whatever route the Speaker’s office is taking the Speaker will be taking that route on behalf of the members of Parliament,” Mapisa-Nqakula added.

Watch the meeting below:

Vote

Earlier in the proceedings, parliamentary legal advisor Zuraya Adhikarie told the committee that Ramaphosa’s court application did not prevent the National Assembly to vote on the Phala Phala report although there were competing arguments in this regard.

“We’ve heard repeatedly from courts that an automatic and complete bar to the National Assembly from carrying out its constitutional mandate is not permissible, especially where we are needing to hold the executive to account.

READ MORE: Possibility of many ANC MPs voting for Section 89 report ‘should not be ruled out’

“So the short answer is, while the sub-judice rule has relevance here, it can’t be a complete bar to the matter being dealt with by the House,” she said.

MPs will in the National Assembly will debate and vote on the Phala Phala report next week.

It was agreed in the Programming Committee that the vote be postponed to Tuesday, 13 December, so that Parliament could sit physically. 

The sitting will be held at the Cape Town City Hall. 

The ANC has resolved that its members will vote against the panel’s report.