Massive shakeup on the cards for Ramaphosa

After years of debate, Parliament is preparing to establish an oversight committee for the Presidency.

This proposal has been on the table for several administrations, but it never gained traction, largely because the ANC had a long-standing majority to thwart such efforts.

This is despite a multi-party delegation of senior MPs who went to the UK on a study tour in July 2023, after which they recommended that the functions of the Presidency not already overseen by a committee be brought into the purview of an oversight committee.

However, at a National Assembly Rules Committee meeting on Thursday night (31 October), DA Chief Whip George Michalakis reignited the debate by putting the item back on the table.

He said this is to ensure Parliament can “fulfil its constitutional obligation of executive oversight, robustly.”

Because the ANC no longer holds a majority in parliament, the proposal received just enough support to move forward, with the DA, MK Party, EFF, ActionSA and all other parties except the ANC and IFP throwing their weight behind it.

The following proposals garnered the slim majority of support:

1.  A separate oversight committee over the presidency should be established.
2. Interpellations should be deemed desirable as an accountability mechanism, and the subcommittee on the rules should be tasked with formulating rules to implement them.

This does not mean that the committee is being established right now.

There is still a process to be followed before the matter is put before Parliament for a decision on whether to accept the motion, accept with amendments or reject the motion of the Rules Committee.

Should all parties in the National Assembly adopt the committee’s resolution, it will lead to establishing a Portfolio Committee on the Presidency.

In his report into state capture, then-Chief Justice Raymond Zondo stated that “it is not correct that everything for which the President is responsible is delegated to a Minister or department outside of the Presidency.”

“Our recent history also shows that the President’s conduct is not always subjected to adequate oversight by the existing portfolio committees,” he added.

Citing this, Michalakis said that “these new rules will ensure that the President and the Department of the Presidency are accountable in full, and not only through occasional oral questions and functions delegated to other members of the Executive.”

“For too long, Parliament has been used as a rubber stamp of the Executive without an appetite to be at the heart of national debate and law-making [and] the DA believes that today’s decision by the NA Rules Committee will ensure that this does not happen again,” he added.

Official opposition leader in Parliament, MK’s Dr John Hlophe recently called the current situation a serious gap in parliamentary oversight. “We want a committee to oversee the Presidency to ensure that everything is accounted for properly and that everything is according to the book.”

“The President only answers to Parliament during quarterly question and answer sessions, which are often marred by bias and lack of transparency,” he said.

EFF national spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys, in a statement, said the party welcomed the decision and urged all political parties to support the Rules Committee’s report.

“Since President Cyril Ramaphosa took office in 2018, he has expanded the Presidency regarding the number of ministers, portfolios, functions, and state-owned entities under its purview. The Presidency has a minister of the presidency and two deputy ministers in addition to the position of Deputy President.

“Ministers responsible for electricity and energy, planning, monitoring and evaluation, and women, youth, and persons with disabilities also fall under the Presidency. Additionally, Mr Ramaphosa has moved state security and the responsibility for realigning state-owned entities to the Presidency,” said Mathys.

ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said this is “a crucial step towards reinforcing the fundamental constitutional principles of accountability and transparency.”

Not everyone on board

While some have lauded the decision made by the committee, the ANC has expressed its disagreement.

“The Presidency has always accounted to Parliament,” said the party in a statement.

“The ANC fully embraces the need to hold the Executive to account on their responsibilities, and it is for this reason that the Rules of the National Assembly specifically set out the accountability mechanisms for the President, the Deputy President and all Members of the Executive and thus the ANC sees no value this new Portfolio Committee will serve.”

The party added that all departments in the broader Presidency family regularly account to various portfolio committees, and thus, the ANC “remains convinced that this overzealousness of the DA to establish yet another mechanism on top of the existing and effective measures already in place is nothing but political posturing.”

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