Economic Freedom Fighters calls for the immediate and urgent re-opening of Parliament to conduct oversight on government, in particular the President to ask him questions and hold him accountable for government decisions during lockdown period.
“We demand the immediate re-opening of parliament because since announcing the lockdown measures to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19, the president has not put in place adequate mechanisms to ask questions to the president and hold him to account for all the decisions and activities of government during the lockdown period,” they said.
EFF insists that despite the many letters and parliamentary questions submitted by members of parliament, the majority of members of the executive are not responding.
The EFF proposes that some of the parliamentary sessions should be hold in Pretoria, Gauteng under social distancing and safety measures to allow members of parliament to gains access to Pretoria without the difficulties of using air travel.
“Part of these measures should be to hold parliamentary sessions in Pretoria, Gauteng province because a significant majority of MPs will be able to gain convenient access without the difficulties of using air travel,” they said.
EFF cites that the rationale behind their demand is growing reports of corruption, negligence and lawless expenditure of public resources during the lockdown and the president is not being held accountable.
‘President must appear before the reconvened parliament to respond to questions because not even the so-called media in South Africa is holding the president accountable,” they said.
