Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handing over one of the reports to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Kopano Tlape/GCIS
Cape Town - Political parties have agreed with Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on how the lawmakers will deal with the Zondo report once it has been brought before Parliament in June.
Mapisa-Nqakula said President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated that he will table the report by the end of June.
The UDM and IFP said they did not want to put the cart before the horse.
In her presentation to MPs, Mapisa-Nqakula laid down processes that will be followed by Parliament after the report has been given to the national legislature by Ramaphosa.
She said Parliament would then decide how it will go ahead and handle the recommendations of the report and action plan by Ramaphosa.
In his State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa said when he tables the report on June 30 he will lay out a plan on action to be taken to implement the recommendations of the report.
Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has so far tabled three reports from December on various entities and agencies of government. This was after he had sought an extension from the North Gauteng High Court as he could not conclude some of the aspects of the report.
Justice Zondo said he will submit the report in different parts in order to avoid delaying the entire process. In the last part he dealt with issues related to Bosasa.
In the meeting of the programming committee, Mapisa-Nqakula said there will be processes that Parliament will follow in dealing with the Zondo report.
“The president indicated that he will submit the full commission report to Parliament by June 30. He also indicated his intentions. There will be a report that points to his intentions with regards to the implementation of the recommendations.
“The second matter is, once the report is submitted to us, the rules committee will meet to discuss the processing of the report. This may well entail referring some aspects of the report to particular committees.
“Three, to the extent that the report deals with the rule of Parliament as a constitutional body, depending on the issues raised, the rules committee or joint rules committee will deal with the matters,” said Mapisa-Nqakula.
“Just to caution us and say that members, we cannot be conclusive on this until the report is formally tabled before us, and of course it should be tabled with an implementation plan where applicable,” she said.
UDM chief whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said he agreed with what Mapisa-Nqakula has laid down to be followed once the report has been tabled.
Narend Singh, the IFP chief whip, said he agreed with the speaker on the matter.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Political Bureau