Cape Town – All Members of Parliament will lose their status as public representatives at midnight on May 28, just before the national and provincial elections, as stated by the Secretary to the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso.
This provision is outlined in both the rules of the House and the Constitution.
Xaso emphasized that all business before the assembly or any assembly committee on the last sitting day of a term or when the assembly is dissolved lapses at the end of that day.
“I would like to read Honourable Speaker Rule 351 for the benefit of all members. All business before the assembly or any assembly committee on the last sitting day of a term of the assembly or when the assembly is dissolved lapse at the end of that day.
“So that is what happens, last sitting day of the term. And then the issue of…after the 29th, the house can only sit only once it is constituted again. So 28th of May members cease to be members at midnight. So, between the 29th and the first sitting of the National Assembly, there are no members of the National Assembly,” SABC quoted Xaso as saying.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday that South Africa will go to the polls on May 29 to choose a parliament which will in turn pick a president.
According to AFP, this year’s vote may prove historic, with opinion polls showing Ramaphosa’s ANC party on less than 50 percent for the first time in South Africa’s three decades of democracy.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
