Speaker, there is no excuse for the no-show of the Minister of Public Works, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, at the meeting of the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works earlier this week - a day after she missed the deadline to respond to the Public Protector's report.
She was due at this committee meeting to respond to the findings of the report and to account for her role in the SAPS lease scandal. The Minister's excuse that she did not attend due to so-called parliamentary processes is flawed. There is no rule that prevents the Minister from appearing before the committee and her failure to do so has severely undermined the oversight role of Parliament.
Indeed, the Minister must account for her conduct and explain to the House why she did not fully co-operate with the Public Protector and why she approved the SAPS lease agreements after she had several legal opinions at her disposal which spoke to the contrary.
The executive has full authority to take the required corrective measures, in line with the Public Protector's report and recommendations. The Minister must account for her actions.
The DA will continue to work tirelessly in ensuring that all those implicated in the scandal are brought to book and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is for this reason that I have written to the portfolio committee's chairperson to exercise our committee's powers to summon the Minister to appear before the committee. [Applause.]