Speaker, it has in fact become quite clear that President Jacob Zuma has no intention to come and appear before this House. [Interjections.] He is supported and aided by those who hold the view that the questions we ask the President will embarrass him. I want to say that it is not the questions we ask in this House that embarrass the President; it is the answers he gives in this House that embarrasses the President. [Applause.]
It is crystal clear that he holds this institution, the only institution that directly represents the people, in disdain, and this is deplorable. The President has not completed an oral question in this Parliament since November 2013. In our view this is an assault on the Constitution and the Rules of this Parliament.
No true democracy should ever stand by and watch the President pick and choose which aspects of his constitutional duties he wants to fulfill. No true democracy would allow its president to set the terms and conditions on which he is prepared to account to parliament. No democracy worth its soul should allow the president to hold the institution that directly represents us, the people, in contempt. He sets the worst example for his Cabinet Ministers, who also feel that they can bunk Parliament whenever they feel like doing it, as we saw in the House yesterday. [Interjections.] [Applause.] South Africa is a true democracy and it is time for us to do our duty to hold the President to account.
Speaker, I have written to you this afternoon and requested that you use your powers to schedule a debate of public importance on this matter. You are our representative and therefore I implore you, Madam Speaker, to schedule this debate. It is your constitutional obligation as much as it is ours to ensure that Parliament exerts its powers and puts the President in his place. President Jacob Zuma cannot be allowed to disrespect this House. I ask you, Madam Speaker. [Time expired.] [Applause.]