DA outlines its expectations for Parly inquiry into Gauteng, KZN riots

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday outlined its expectations for the parliamentary inquiry into the deadly civil unrest that took place three weeks ago in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The party said it wanted Parliament to reduce the number of MPs that would serve on the ad hoc committee, and its co-chairpersons from the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to come from the opposition benches.

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DA MP and spokesperson on justice, Glynnis Breytenbach, said the party was unhappy about the preliminary meeting that was held last Friday on the composition of the inquiry.

The inquiry would include, among others, the portfolio committees on police, defence, state security and justice from both the National Assembly and the NCOP.

Breytenbach said while the DA welcomed the initiative by house chairperson, Cedric Frolick, to call for the inquiry, his announcement was premature because the proper procedure to establish an inquiry of this nature would be for National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and NCOP chair, Amos Masondo, to request it.

“To convene a meeting of all the meetings [committees] specified above would mean that the inquiry will be conducted by a large number of MPs, this makes it difficult to engage in the sort of cross-questioning that is necessary for an inquiry of this sort.

“We suggest that a formula be found for reducing the number of members of the ad hoc committee to a manageable size,” Breytenbach said.

DA MP and spokesperson on state security, Dianne Kohler Barnard, said it was unclear whether the riots that claimed the lives of more than 300 people were indeed a “failed insurrection” as stated by the government.

She said the inquiry should establish whether the unrest was a result of a groundswell of fury by citizens unhappy with the government or if it was planned by the 12 alleged instigators.

“What Parliament must do is pin down the truth, apportion the blame and ensure that our security services are never again seen to be absent, unaware or deliberately standing back,” Kohler Barnard said.

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“There are questions our nation needs answers too and many of these coalesce around ANC factional battles. The reality is, to ensure credibility in this process and public support that the outcome has been properly determined, this process cannot, in any manner, be seen as an attempt to save ANC careers or in fact protect members of individual factions within that political party.”

In the aftermath of the violence, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the unrest was a result of an “insurrection”, but he was contradicted before a parliamentary committee by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who said the unrest was not an attempted coup. The minister later backtracked on her comments.

State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and Police Minister Bheki Cele also publicly disagreed over whether the South African Police Service (Saps) was provided with intelligence reports prior to the violence.

Dlodlo has insisted that the police had the information, but Cele has disputed this.

The DA said it wanted Dlodlo, Cele and Mapisa-Nqakula removed if the inquiry found that they did, indeed, mislead the country regarding the insurrection. The party has also called for the the “redacted” intelligence reports to be made public.

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