Civil organisations request Mbete reconvenes Parliament
This article below was published by Jacaranda FM News |Updated
A total of 64 civil society organisations have written to the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete, requesting her to reconvene Parliament urgently. The organisations want the the motion of no confidence tabled by opposition parties to be debated.
Photo: GCIS
The motion of no confidence in the President follows his controversial cabinet reshuffle, which has led to widespread political unease and a credit rating downgrade by Standard and Poor’s.
The Right2Know campaign’s Murray Hunter says it’s important that the motion is debated as soon as possible.
“Parliament is not scheduled to sit for the next month and we believe that something of this magnitude is important enough to be dealt with immediately. So we have called on the speaker to use her powers to call MPs back so that this matter can be addressed.”
Murray says any South African can make such a request.
“Parliament is open institution and its mean to be an institution of the people and the Speaker is able to take this matter into consideration. This is in line with section 102 if the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa read with rule 129 of the rules of the National Assembly.”
Mbete told journalists on Sunday that she will begin a consultative process on the request to reconvene Parliament earlier than scheduled.
Opposition parties the EFF and the DA have also requested that she convenes a special sitting this week.
