ANC Chief Whip withdraws several motions, requests time to consult

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The Chief Whip of the African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament, Mdumiseni Ntuli, has withdrawn several motions – including the nomination of MPs to serve on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

This was the first plenary meeting of the National Assembly since the swearing-in of MPs for the seventh administration.

Also on the agenda, was a motion for the election of House chairpersons and members to be nominated to serve on the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), which was also withdrawn.

Ntuli informed the House of the withdrawals.

“I wish to withdraw the following motions. Motion number 2, the House of chairpersons, motion number 4 the SADC Parly forum. Third motion I am withdrawing is number 6 which is the election of JSC. The reason for this madam Speaker, is for further consultation,” adds Ntuli.

It was expected that the uMkhonto weSizwe Party would nominate Dr John Hlophe as its candidate to serve on the Judicial Service Commission.

Hlophe, one of the longest serving judges in democratic South Africa, was impeached last year.

Last week, he was sworn in as parliamentary leader for the MK Party.

During the short sitting, MK chief whip Sihle Ngubane raised a belated objection.

“Madam Speaker, I am worried about moving in huge speed. Deferring issues and we are not consulted in issues being deferred and we are not given the option to know on what basis are we deferring issues,” adds Ngubane.

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