ANC
*Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 1 April 2013*** *DA's call on CAR opportunistic*The Office of the ANC Chief Whip reiterates the support of the ANC in Parliament in the President's deployment of troops to the Central African Republic (CAR).
On 7 January 2013, in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the President duly informed Parliament of the deployment of troops in CAR as required by the Constitution. The letter was subsequently tabled and referred to the joint standing committee on defence as required under parliamentary rules and procedures.
In terms of the Constitution, Parliament can request the withdrawal of troops from international obligation only after a recommendation to the Houses of Parliament has been made by the joint committee on defence.
A meeting of the joint standing committee on defence is scheduled for this Thursday (4 April 2013) to consider the developments in CAR. It is at this meeting that the DA can raise its proposal.
Any recommendation that the joint committee may make can only be dealt with by the Houses of Parliament individually for a decision. This is because in terms of parliamentary rules, joint settings of parliament do not make decisions. The DA's call for a joint sitting is therefore misguided and ill- advised.
These are basic facts that the DA, in its haste to feed its uncontrolled appetite for media publicity, forgot to first familiarize itself with. The DA's attempt to bypass these rules illustrates that it is more interested in publicity rather than reinforcing and building our democracy through a proper parliamentary oversight. We would like to emphasize that our presence in the CAR is based on a decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council taken in 2005 and reaffirmed in 2006. Our President will be attending the summit of the Economic Communities of Central African States (Eccas), the regional structure of the AU, on 3 April 2013, where the issue of CAR will be discussed. Our foreign policy is guided by the pursuit of the national interest of SA and of the African continent.
It is unfortunate that the DA elected to score cheap political points on a matter as sensitive and tragic as the developments in CAR. In this vein, it would be difficult for anyone to take their call seriously. We once again convey our heartfelt condolences to the families of those soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty. These brave heroes fought for the noble and selfless cause for peace, democracy and development in Africa.
*Issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip* *_Enquiries_:* *Moloto Mothapo 082 370 6930* -- _*Communist University*_*:*_CU Downloads_: _*sites.google.com/site/cu2012courses/* <https://sites.google.com/site/cu2012courses/>_
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