Hon members, before we proceed with this motion, I would like to refer to a question that was raised during the programming committee meeting this morning regarding the absence of the President in the House today. Members may recall that today the President was initially expected to respond to questions. However, owing to an international commitment, the date for questions to the President was moved, by agreement, to 24 March.
Therefore the President could not be in the House today. In any event, there is no requirement in the Constitution or the Rules for the President to be present when a motion of no confidence in him is being considered by the House. I now wish to invite the hon Dandala to address the House. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order: Before the hon Dandala starts, if I may, sir, it would appear from the speakers' list that Cope has been given a total of four minutes in this debate. Now, there is a long-standing convention in this House, going right back to 1994, which says very clearly, and has always been understood, that the party that proposes a motion will be given extra time. In fact, Mr Speaker, that time has usually been in the region of 10 minutes.
I believe it is a fatal flaw in this debate, and I cannot think of any reason why it should have happened - why Cope has not been given additional time in this debate - other than that the ANC wishes to shut Cope down. [Interjections.]
Order, hon members! Hon member, you know as well as I do that the allocation and management of speaking time is the responsibility of the Whips. Whips are indeed employed as such for the smooth functioning of the House. It is not for the Speaker to interfere with the allocation of time. It is the responsibility of the Whips. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, may I address you on that, please, sir? There has always been an agreement between parties. I do know that Cope has asked for additional time in this debate, and has been denied by the ANC. The importance of this is really great, because we are setting a precedent today for when future motions are debated in this House. Is the ANC going to shut down every other party in the future, in the same way they have shut down Cope today?
Thank you, Speaker, for raising the issue that I have also written to you about, as Speaker of the House. I believe it is important for the House to note that we have followed the right route and that is to ask the Chief Whip of the Majority Party for extra time. That was declined. It was said that it would be strictly proportional. Thereafter, I approached your office. You then informed us that it was not the role of the Speaker to grant extra time.
However, we just want to place on record that we have done the appropriate thing, and we cannot but concur with the hon Deputy Chief Whip of the DA that this is a clear attempt to silence us on a very important constitutional matter. Thank you.
Mr Speaker, I just want to bring to your attention that in terms of the Constitution, you bear the final and sole responsibility of ensuring the conduct of these proceedings. The Whips may carry some delegated responsibilities, but if, in fact, the convention exists in the allocation of time, you bear the final responsibility of enforcing it and applying it correctly with equanimity.
Hon Speaker, from the side of the ANC, we want to acknowledge that indeed Cope did approach us for additional time. We gave them our position, and the hon Kilian indicated that they fully understand our position. I thus do not understand the reason why this matter is being dealt with in this way.
Hon members, I do not want to entertain any more debate on the matter. We have listened to the concerns expressed, and I would really urge that the Whips deal with the matter, even in future.