Please find attached soundbite by George Michalakis MP.
– Court process should not delay parliamentary accountability,
– President must not obstruct Parliament,
– Phala Phala process cannot be delayed.
The DA maintains that the parliamentary impeachment process must not stall while President Ramaphosa’s review application unfolds before the courts. Parliament must be allowed to conduct it’s oversight and accountability role unobstructed.
The President has now filed court papers in his Phala Phala review application, as he said he would do, and he has committed to request that the matter be dealt with on an expedited basis.
Parliament must urgently set the rules and Terms of Reference (TOR) for the impeachment committee, and the DA will hold it accountable to do so without delay. The committee must begin its work. The Constitutional Court has, separate from the merits of the Phala Phala matter, ordered Parliament to fulfil this task and Parliament should not be stopped from doing its work.
We further note that the President, in his court papers, indicated that he would interdict Parliament, should it proceed with the process. The President knows full well that there is a long way ahead for the parliamentary processes to be put in place before the hearing itself will commence. Such a step would therefore come down to the Head of State a) actively preventing Parliament from complying with a constitutional court order and b) be nothing but delay tactics. The result would be incredibly damaging to the reputation of Parliament, at the hands of the President.
The country cannot afford for this matter to be dragged out unnecessarily.