ANC walks out of Provincial Parliament again

By Lelethu Mquqo
24 November 2010

The African National Congress in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament says it will not take part in critical debates on the annual reports of the 13 provincial departments and seven entities without suitable time to prepare.

This led to the second walkout in the second successive sitting of the provincial legislature by the ANC.

Last week ANC members stormed out of the Western Cape Legislature in protest.

Last week’s protest was provoked by a heated debate about when it is applicable for politicians to be excused from the legislature.

This week, the ANC says the reports by the committees for the financial year 2009/10 were only distributed to the MPP’s a few hours before the sitting.

“We only received the vital reports on which we should base the debate when I demanded it.

“Our members were to discuss the 38 page official parliamentary report in preparation of the envisaged debate. Our bid to have the debate postponed was rejected”, ANC chief whip Pierre Uys said in a statement.