process to deal with the matter
9 January 2009
Parliament, in December 2008, received notification from the President of
the Republic, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, 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, Advocate Vusi Pikoli, from his position.
Parliament is now required to consider and pronounce on the decision by the
President.
As part of this, Parliament will be setting up a Joint Ad-hoc Committee to
consider the Presidentâs decision and advise the Houses of Parliament on
whether Adv Pikoli should be restored to office or not. The names of members of
the joint committee, which have been sent to the presiding officers of
Parliament, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde,
and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Mr Mninwa Mahlangu,
will be published next week when the matter will also be tabled by notice in
the journals of Parliament.
The 22 member committee will comprise 13 members of the NA (eight nominated
by the African National Congress, two by the Democratic Alliance, one by the
Inkatha Freedom Party and two from the smaller parties) and nine National
Council of Provinces (NCOP) members (six from the ANC, one from the DA, one
from the African Christian Democratic Party and one from the Freedom Front
Plus).
The documents that President Motlanthe referred to Parliament will be made
available to the members of the joint committee next week, after the documents
are tabled and referred to the joint committee.
Rather than simply referring the matter to plenary sessions of the NA and
NCOP, Parliament decided on a more involved internal process, hence the
establishment of the committee. This will enable a more detailed consideration
of the Presidentâs decision before the houses decide on the issue. It is
incumbent upon Parliament to do this in order to enable a thorough process to
inform its final position on the matter.
The powers given to the committee will be in line with Joint Rule 32 of the
Rules of Parliament. The committee will determine its own procedure and will
elect its own chairperson. It will therefore have 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.
Once the committee has completed its deliberations on the Presidentâs
decision to remove Advocate Pikoli from office, 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 National Prosecuting Authority Act provides for the matter to be
finalised within 30 days after it is tabled or as soon as it is reasonably
possible thereafter. The matter is expected to be concluded by the end of
February. There is no sitting of Parliament on 12 January but the start of the
session begins then with committee meetings.
For more information contact:
Luzuko Jacobs
Tel: 021 403 2124
Cell: 082 906 1438
Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
9 January 2009
Source: Parliament of South Africa (http://www.parliament.gov.za)
