The National Assembly will hold a special physical sitting in Cape Town’s City Hall on Monday September 11 to vote on two issues related to the public protector.
Even though Mondays are reserved for constituency work by MPs, this is the only day the venue is available in the near future.
MPs will vote on a report of the section 194 committee, which, after a lengthy inquiry, has recommended that public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane be removed from office on the grounds of incompetence and misconduct.
A two-thirds majority is required to remove the head of a chapter nine institution from office. As both the ANC, which has 230 seats in the National Assembly, and the DA, with 84 seats, support the removal of Mkhwebane, it is likely there will be the required two-thirds majority to do so. The EFF, which has 44 seats in the National Assembly, opposes Mkhwebane’s removal.
A majority of the National Assembly’s chief whips’ forum decided Wednesday that voting will be by means of a roll call of individual MPs. The National Assembly programme committee confirmed this at a meeting on Thursday.
If the vote for the removal of Mkhwebane succeeds, she will leave office just about a month before her term of office ends in mid October. She has indicated she will challenge the section 194 committee’s report in court.
The same roll call voting procedure will be used for the second issue to be dealt with on September 11, namely the appointment of Kholeka Gcaleka as the new public protector. An ad hoc committee voted this week to recommend Gcaleka for the appointment. A 60% majority in the National Assembly will be required in support of Gcaleka’s appointment if a recommendation in this regard is to be made to President Cyril Ramaphosa. The DA has indicated that it will not support her appointment.
At the programme committee, DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube stressed it was essential to have a physical meeting with a roll call method of voting in view of the special majorities required for the two issues.
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