Independent Newspapers
The Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 chartered by the Gupta family. File photo: Phill Magakoe
Cape Town – The ANC has launched a pre-emptive strike before the parliamentary debate on the Gupta scandal.
Targeting the DA, the ruling party has moved to kill any prospect of President Jacob Zuma being present in the National Assembly when hostile MPs debate the issue next month.
The ANC said on Sunday that the much-anticipated parliamentary debate on the illegal landing of a Gupta chartered aircraft at the Waterkloof Air Force Base had nothing to do with ANC.
Last week, Speaker Max Sisulu agreed to schedule a parliamentary debate on the landing of the civilian plane at a national key point, as requested by the DA.
One of the DA’s demands was that the president be present during the debate – a move that would have exposed Zuma to possible jeers and ridicule. But ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga all but ruled this out on Sunday.
“The debate was approved by the Speaker in terms of section 103 of the National Assembly Rules, which provide for debates on matters of national importance. This debate, which the ANC welcomed to ensure that Parliament reflects on the matter in line with its constitutional mandate, is not about President Jacob Zuma,” said Motshekga.
The ANC has moved to kill any prospect of President Jacob Zuma being present in the National Assembly when hostile MPs debate the issue next month. File photo: Jason Boud
Independent Newspapers
He said it was unfortunate that since the announcement of Sisulu’s decision, “we have had the misfortune of having to endure the DA’s relentless public rambles which seek to reduce this debate to a ‘Zuma debate’ ”.
“The DA’s call for the president’s presence during this debate is nothing but arrant nonsense which those who have respect for the constitution and parliamentary rules will find unworthy of serious attention,” said Motshekga.
Lecturing the official opposition on parliamentary rules and processes, he said it was important to note that the president was not a member of parliament “and therefore cannot be expected to be in the house for snap debates”.
“Secondly, the topic which the Speaker approved states clearly that the debate is about the controversial Waterkloof Military airport landing, not about ‘summoning the President to account on the Waterkloof landing’, said Motshekga.
The DA has taken the matter further and asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to probe it. This followed the party’s request for Auditor-General Terence Nombembe’s office to investigate the scandal.
“There is very little prospect that current investigations into ‘Guptagate’ will reveal the truth about President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet’s role in authorising the landing of private Jet Airways Airbus A330-200, chartered by the Gupta family, at AFB Waterkloof on April 30, 2013. The DA has therefore requested that the Public Protector, advocate Thuli Madonsela, investigate ‘Guptagate’,” said DA defence spokesman David Maynier.
Maynier said Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe had effectively found Zuma and members of his cabinet “not guilty” before the Gupta saga investigation had even begun.
“From the start, the damage control strategy has been to shift the spotlight from politicians to officials such as the Chief of State Protocol, Bruce Koloane. In the end, the ministers are clearly relying on a ‘rogue officials defence’ to firewall President Jacob Zuma and members of his cabinet from the political fallout from Guptagate.”
A spokesman for the Gupta family, Gary Naidoo, declined to comment on media reports that the Guptas had demanded diplomatic passports. “Our position is clear. We will not respond as we have referred the matter to our attorneys for their consideration,” Naidoo said.
* City Press reported that the super-rich Gupta family had received a property tax bonanza on their luxury R26.5m estate that other homeowners could only dream of.
The paper said it had established that the Guptas’ homestead in Joburg had been valued for property taxes at less than a third of the R26.5m the family had poured into the property.
A Gupta family spokesman could not comment owing to the family being away at a wedding.
