EFF leader Julius Malema has demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa be called to appear before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee looking into the explosive claims made by KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
The committee held a meeting on Friday to finalise the proposed list of witnesses. This list should be handed over to the evidence leaders who will lead preparation.
Malema told the committee that the consultation process should not be watered down, stressing that even the President must be held accountable.
President named in task team disbanding
“We plead that let these names that have been submitted be subjected to consultations. Then we shall be advised. Including the president, the president was mentioned in the committee where the minister said he consulted the president on the disbandment of the PTT (Political Killings Task Team). Why is parliament being used to shield the president from accountability?
“We are now failing again in our responsibility to hold the executive accountable. You are so ready to hold ministers accountable. But when it comes to the president ‘no, no, let’s see’ the need has risen,” said Malema.
He emphasised that Ramaphosa was not above the constitution. And that he should be held into account by the Parliamentary Committee.
Malema dismissed claims that the proposed witness list was too long, insisting the seriousness of the allegations demanded that every possible name be considered.
“Don’t start at the point of laziness and say this is too long, this is going to take too long. We can take four [witnesses] a day, we are allowed to ask questions for 30 minutes. Some of us would not even have questions for other witnesses. They may be so clear. So let’s not assume that if it is 64 names it would mean 64 days or 100 days,” Malema said.
The ANC’s chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli stood against rushing into a long list of witnesses without first hearing Mkhwanazi’s evidence.
Warning against ‘parallel’ commission
He said the Ad Hoc Committee should not compete with the Madlanga Commission. The commission is already probing related matters. He said parliament and the commission should complement each other in the final analysis and should not be in competition.
Ntuli suggested that the list should move forward but not be activated immediately.
“I am very clear in my mind that the possibility exists that today’s meeting. Even by the time we end it, we might have not concluded the matter. We are going to be consumed on the debate of the suitability of these names to appear before the Ad Hoc Committee.
“Which may very well be the case that at a later stage, after we have heard one or two witnesses, all of us are going to be convinced that in essence, the names that we spent a day or two fighting about are not going to be necessary for purposes of ourselves,” said Ntuli.
MK Party MP David Skosana also weighed in. He reminded the committee that the terms of reference allow for new witnesses to be added if their names come up during evidence.
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