BY REGINALD KANYANE

Democratic Alliance said they will no longer tolerate the bias and unethical conduct of North West Provincial Legislature, Susana Dantjie. This came about after DA and the EFF walked out of the North West Provincial Legislature sitting yesterday. They accused the Speaker for denying them their right to participate in proceedings.

DA provincial leader, Joe McGluwa said all motions and member statements were unilaterally removed from the order paper by the ANC Chief Whip, Hofman Galeng.

“We asked for intervention based on Rule 114 of the North West Provincial Standing Rules. This rule allows for the scheduling of the programme prior to sittings by all parties involved, but the removal of items from the order paper were never discussed when the committee met on the April 15.

“The sitting scheduled for various departments to debate budget votes just became another case where the ANC government blatantly ignored the rules and enforced their own agenda by sheer numbers,” McGluwa said.

He said according to Rule 46 (3) of the House rules, parties are allowed to rise and extend condolences and congratulations or address important issues of the day in member statements.

“When the DA requested the Speaker to overrule the ANC Chief Whip’s decision, the Speaker responded that the House agreed with Galeng’s advice and that statements would only be allowed again after the Local Government Elections in August.

“The DA believes that motions and member statements are imperative tools for the opposition to voice their opinions through Legislative channels. We have a constitution that guarantees that every person be treated with dignity and equality. We must treasure our constitution, protect it so it can protect us,” he said.

McGluwa said the prohibition for them to debate is undemocratic. He said that was confirmed on Tuesday that the ANC stifles any debate.

The Sergeant of Arms was called in to remove the DA Leader, Joe McGluwa.

“The DA can assure our communities that we will not be intimidated by the ANC. We will stop at nothing to ensure the legislature remains transparent. It is the right of voters to have the public representatives they elected to act on their behalf on issues that impact their daily lives,” he said.

However, ANC Chief Whip, Hoffman Galeng refuted the DA’s claims. He regarded EFF and DA’s move as cheap political stunt.

Galeng said: “North West provincial legislature Rule 114 says the programming committee shall consist of the speaker, deputy speaker, and leader of government business, the chairperson of committees, the chief whip of the house and the whip of each opposition party. Now it also states that the motions that need to be discussed should be sent to the chief of the majority party before 12pm.

“Now DA provincial chief whip, Jacqueline Theologo sent the motions at 16:50. So as the Chief Whip of the legislature, the rules allow me to decide whether we proceed with motions raised or not. Rule 46 says every motion requires notice, except a motion by way of amendment to a draft Resolution permitted in terms of these Rules,” Galeng said.

-TDN

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

taungdailynews@gmail.com