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Session of the National Assembly.
Jeffrey Abrahams, Gallo Images
- The DA wants the National Assembly to meet again for an urgent debate.
- They are concerned about South Africa’s plan for the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine.
- Parliament adjourned the session for the year in the first week of December.
The district attorney wants the National Assembly to reconvene for an urgent debate on South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination plan before the end of the year.
The head of the prosecution, Natasha Mazzone, wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise with a request in this regard.
“After the Horibilis dose (“horrible year” in Latin) that we just went through, we need to start 2021 with a clear plan, not misunderstood. Disinforming Parliament is a crime, “Mazzone said in a statement.
She said South Africans were initially told that vaccines covering up to 10% of the population would be given in the first quarter of 2021, but in his address to the nation on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that they had been “informed that we should expect vaccines in the second quarter of 2021”.
“Along with reports that South Africa missed its second payment deadline for the World Health Organization’s vaccination program; indications of large-scale EPP corruption; and our government’s generally poor record when it comes to upon delivery, it is not unreasonable to worry that South Africans will be left behind as the rest of the world opens their now Covid-free economies and resumes normal life in 2021. “
READ | Covid-19: DA Will Take Legal Action to Make Government Covid-19 Vaccination Plans Public
Mazzone said that an urgent debate of national importance would allow members of Parliament to involve cabinet ministers such as Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma, on the plans of their respective departments and the alternatives that he considered.
The DA proposed to stop the SAA bailout and redirect the money to the purchase of vaccines.
“The debate can easily be held in a virtual plenary before the clock strikes the new year,” Mazzone said.
“As we approach the new year, South Africans deserve to know the truth about the government’s vaccination plans and what awaits our nation in 2021. We cannot afford to get caught up in a cycle of lockdowns that damage our economy and destroy lives and livelihoods. “
Parliament rose for the year in the first week of December. The National Assembly rules allow Modise to reconvene the assembly “in exceptional circumstances” and, after consulting with the leader of government affairs, Vice President David Mabuza and the party whips, allow the House to sit down.
In December last year, the Prosecutor’s Office unsuccessfully requested an urgent debate on Eskom’s continuing blackouts after Parliament raised the year.
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