Senate wants audience with PM

LOBAMBA – Senate President Gelane Zwane says Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini must be called to parliament to explain on the issue of Bills not being passed.

The Senators were also displeased about similar comments made by Winnie Magagula, Minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), that certain Bills were not being passed because they were stuck in parliament.

The minister, who is in Cape Town, South Africa on official business, spoke during the Current Affairs news programme on national radio on Tuesday evening. Zwane said such a meeting would help legislators unpack what was in their hearts without the worry that the contents of the meeting would be released to the public.

"Some issues should be discussed in private, but for a minister (Winnie Magagula) to talk like she did outside the country is quite disturbing. We should speak about this here," said Zwane.

Furthermore, she said might be lacking for those who ascended to Cabinet posts, particularly on handling oneself in a foreign country.

"Bayamhleka (they are laughing at her) for speaking against her own country the way she did," added the president.

Magagula was expressing concern that the country was lagging behind in communication development compared to other countries in the South African Development Community (SADC) region because certain critical legislations were still not passing the parliament stage.

She particularly referred to the Communications Commission Bill of 2010 and also the Electronic Bill of 2010. She had said the country was expected to migrate to digital format by next year, but the delays did not augur well for it.

Senators took exception in what the minister had said because they felt that she had not only embarrassed the country, but had also left an impression that parliament was not effective enough.

Senator Moimoi Masilela who raised this matter first said imihlolo ke le (meaning this is outrageous) for the minister to give the media information which he termed as misleading. In his remarks he combined this matter with what Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini had said about many Bills being wedged in parliament.

"Where are the 40 Bills said to be stuck? They should come and explain to us because they have the privilege of seeing the king and we don’t, they just talk any how. But let’s find out where the delay is in completing Bills," said the senator.

Senator Thuli Msane said it was disappointing that the minister had spoken in this manner while in a foreign country.

"There are things that you can say in a foreign country and there are those that you cannot say. Politics is a dicey thing, you say what people want to hear, but was it ethical for the minister to speak like this?" said Msane.

She went on to say for newspapers to publish stories that parliament was not passing laws was very painful. She highligh-ted that parliament was not necessarily holding back Bills, but it was the ministers who determined the pace at which things were done.

"This is our job and to say that we can’t do it is unacceptable. We want a law that will protect His Majesty the King when people are outside representing the country," she said.

The stand-off between the Legislative arm and the Executive on this issue is disturbing indeed. The question is where do we feature (as citizens) in the whole saga? Are the said Bills at our interests or at the interest of few individuals somewhere? If these Bills were initiated with our inputs and for our welfare as citezens of the country then they would have been passed by now. We can't put the blame entirely on parliament (that is if we say they carry the mandate of the people). Thanks
Jun 7, 2012, 9:54 AM, Sicelo G (gsicelo@yahoo.com)

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