Ad-Hoc Committee
Parliament, Monday
19 January 2009
Parliamentâs Joint Ad-hoc Committee to consider President Kgalema
Motlantheâs decision to remove National Director of Public Prosecutions
Advocate Vusi Pikoli will tomorrow, Tuesday, 20 January receive a presentation
by Advocate Pikoli.
The Presidency will appear before the committee on Wednesday, 22 January and
the committee will then deliberate on the matter of the Presidentâs decision
until Wednesday, 28 January.
The 22 member committee, drawn from Parliamentâs National Assembly (NA) and
National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will then vote on the issue and adopt a
committee report on 29 January.
Parliamentâs NA is expected to vote on the committeeâs report on 30 January
and the NCOP is expected to do the same on 3 February.
The committeeâs task is to recommend to the Houses of Parliament whether
Advocate Pikoli should be restored to office or not. The powers given to the
committee are in line with Joint Rule 32 of the Rules of Parliament. It has the
same general powers that other committees of Parliament have, including the
right to summon any person to appear before it to give evidence or to produce
documents.
In December 2008, Parliament received President Motlanthe informed
Parliament about his decision, in terms of Section 12 of the National
Prosecuting Act (Act 32 of 1998), to remove the National Director of Public
Prosecution from his position. Parliament is required to consider and pronounce
on the decision by the President.
Rather than simply referring the matter to plenary sessions of the NA and
NCOP, Parliament decided on a more involved internal process to enable more
detailed consideration of the Presidentâs decision and a thorough process to
inform its final position on the matter.
Once the committee has completed its deliberations on the Presidentâs
decision, it will make a recommendation to the NA and to the NCOP. These two
houses of Parliament can either approve the committeeâs recommendation or make
an alternate decision.
The committee meeting tomorrow is in the Old Assembly Chamber, ground floor,
Old Assembly Wing and starts at 10.00
For more information contact:
Luzuko Jacobs
Tel: 021 403 2124
Cell: 082 906 1438
Issued by: South African Parliament
19 January 2009
