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Earlier today the Programme Committee met to discuss the 11 March 2015 National Assembly Questions to the President session.

At the meeting, the DA proposed that the planned session be extended in order to include the line of questioning disrupted during the now infamous session held on 21 August; which the committee agreed to.

This is a welcomed development, however, a lot more still needs to be done in order to ensure that the President and executive remain accountable to Parliament.

The President is mandated to account to Parliament, and Rule 111(1)(a) of the National Assembly requires him to appear before the House at least once every term to answer questions from Members.

The rule in its current form however fails to provide any sanctions in the event of a presidential dereliction of duty, which has allowed President Zuma to avoid accounting to Parliament and the public for far too long.

The DA will continue to push the Speaker and Presidency to provide provisional question session dates for the rest of this year as she committed to in today’s meeting, and will propose amendments to Rule 111 in order to provide Parliament recourse in the event of future Presidential absenteeism.

Parliament should prioritise the agenda and issues of the people it’s meant to serve, not the President’s.

Issued by DA