Durban — Another MK Party court battle is looming and this time it has the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in its sights.
The party said it had approached its lawyers for advice on what action to take against the provincial legislature for blocking its chances of chairing portfolio committees.
The role of a chairperson of a portfolio committees is crucial as they consider bills, and monitor how the departments, including the premier and MECs, handle their budget, policies and service delivery.
MKP provincial spokesperson Vincent Mdunge said the rules of electing the chairpersons were changed on July 9, the day of the full sitting, allegedly without consulting all the parties and allowing them time to caucus and discuss who to elect.
“We have decided to let our lawyers look at the rule of law and advise if there is legitimacy for us to pursue this through the court of law,” said Mdunge.
A source at the legislature said voting for the chairpersons at the full sitting was unprecedented, but allowed. He said it had been done with individual committees where MECs were not members.
Zwakele Mncwango, who sat in the rules committee while he was a DA MPL, said that had the legislature followed a proper calculation of proportional representatives in the committees and played by the old order of electing the chairperson and deputy in the individual committees, the MKP would have won.
“MECs do not sit in the committees as they account to the committees. But if the election of the chairpersons and deputies are conducted in the house, MECs would be allowed to participate because MECs are members of the house,” said Mncwango.
The MKP, led by former president Jacob Zuma, was aggrieved that despite qualifying for 37 out of 80 seats following the elections, which was more than any other party in the provincial legislature, it was still deprived of all senior positions.
Instead, the chairpersons were from parties that were members of the government of provincial unity (GPU), except the NFP, whose only MPL, Mbali Shinga, is an MEC.
The EFF which, like the MKP, is not in the GPU, also had neither of its two MPLs elected as committee chairpersons.
Spokesperson for the speaker’s office, Wesley Canham, said the chairpersons and deputies were elected in terms of Rule 146 (1).
The office denied the MKP had protested against the process followed to elect chairpersons.
“The issues raised by the MK Party in the house pertained to the establishment of committees, and not the election of chairpersons,” Canham said.
Meanwhile, Mdunge said the party had not decided whether its members would stage a protest at Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters, on Wednesday when Zuma is expected to appear virtually before the ANC’s disciplinary committee on charges of violating the party’s policies.
Sunday Tribune