PARLIAMENT has rejected the DA's proposed motion to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the Phala Phala saga.
The motion, brought by the DA Chief Whip of the Opposition, Siviwe Gwarube, proposed that a committee be established to investigate the alleged cover-up of the crime on the Phala Phala farm.
This relates to the 2020 burglary on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
Parliament spokesman Moloto Mothapo said during its plenary sitting at the Cape Town City Hall on Wednesday night, 22 March, the National Assembly rejected a draft resolution for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to conduct an inquiry into matters surrounding the Phala Phala game farm theft.
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He said after making declarations on the resolution, the house resolved not to agree to the draft resolution.
“The vote was conducted by means of manual voting and roll call,” said Mothapo.
After the voting, Gwarube said they will explore other options to deal with the saga and will look at whether or not there is any other legal recourse that would enable them to bring the matter back.
“We are of the view that we can’t simply sweep this matter under the carpet. That would be setting an incredibly bad precedent about a head of state who was investigated by an independent panel that Parliament had commissioned at a great public cost. Essentially, it is abdicating duty for Members of Parliament to have voted in this way,” she said.
Good secretary-general, Brett Herron, said the problem with the proposal from the chief whip of the opposition is that nothing has changed since the proposal was debated six months ago, and nothing has changed since the report by the Independent Panel was rejected by the house three months ago.
“The matter may well return to Parliament for a new decision should the Hawks, the Public Protector, the South African Reserve Bank or Sars conclude that the president should be charged with a crime or has acted illegally or in breach of the Executive Ethics Act,” said Herron
“That hasn’t happened yet and we should allow the authorities to conclude their investigations without fear, favour or this opportunistic political interference."
