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Today the DA argued before Parliament’s ad hoc committee to consider the Nkandla report - which met for the first time this morning - that the mandate of the committee must encompass more than President Zuma’s response to the Public Protector’s report.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, set out clear terms of reference for the ad hoc committee when he first announced its establishment in Parliament’s Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports document (ATC) on 9 April 2014. The Speaker’s announcement clearly states that the ad hoc committee must consider the submissions made by the President to Parliament, which include:

• The president’s letter in response to the Public Protector’s Nkandla Report;
• The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) proclamation issued by the president in respect of the Nkandla upgrade; and
• The Public Protector’s Nkandla Report.

Furthermore, Parliament’s ATC released on 22 April 2014 further clarifies that all three of these documents have been referred to the ad hoc committee.

We are pleased that the committee has accordingly agreed not to adopt a programme which excludes all three critical documents, and we trust that a full programme – which will include submissions from key individuals and groups in this matter – will be finalised at our next committee meeting.

This should, critically, include all public submissions on the Nkandla matter, including that of the Council for the Advancement of the Constitution (CASAC), which was submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly this week.

We are however deeply concerned at the limited time frame which remains for the committee to consider all this information. It is for this reason that we have argued that the committee meet at every available opportunity, including on weekends.

It is a shame that this was not agreed to, especially since it was the ANC which delayed the start of our work by failing to submit the names of the ANC members who would serve on the ad hoc committee immediately after the Speaker established it. Indeed, they have had more than enough time to look at the three documents which the committee must consider, as they have been with Parliament since 9 April 2014.

Given that the ANC has requested the entire weekend to read through the relevant documents, we believe that additional time must be provided to make up for the two weeks we have lost to the ANC’s delays. It is for this very reason that I have written to Mr Sisulu to request an extension of the committee’s reporting deadline.

The DA will seek support for such an extension amongst all members of the ad hoc committee.

We will continue to remain vigilent in order to ensure that the critical work of this committee is not trivialised – or worse, prevented from taking place -  by those who wish to defend President Zuma at all costs.

It is in the interests of all South Africans that the ad hoc committee do everything possible, with every single minute of time at its disposal, to ensure that those responsible for wrong-doing in the Nkandla matter are held to account.