ANC Fails to Elect its own Committee Chair

November 20, 2006

Shortly after the ANC’s botched attempt at ousting Dr Lionel Mtshali as Chairperson of the Community Safety and Liaison parliamentary portfolio committee in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Parliament, the four IFP chairpersons, including Dr Mtshali, voluntarily resigned.

Now the ANC cannot agree on replacing at least one of the posts with its own member. Last Friday’s Housing portfolio committee meeting at North Beach Holiday Inn in Durban ostensibly ended in failure to elect a new ANC chairperson.

“The farce continues,” said Henry Combrinck, Chief Whip of the Official Opposition (IFP) who also represents his party in the Housing portfolio committee. The occasion was contrived to replace former IFP chairperson of the committee, SV Naicker, with an ANC nominee, T Jeeboth.

However, only three ANC members out of five bothered to turn up for the meeting. Four members from the opposition parties were present. In order to break the quorum that could have elected a chairperson from the opposition, the ANC members hurriedly left the meeting.

“Parliament went into the expense of holding a special meeting in a Durban hotel. It came to nothing. The incident is a fitting illustration of the ruling party as a chaotic and high-spending government,” said Combrinck.

Contact: Henry Combrinck, 082 576 7255