Order! Hon members, before we come to the next item I would like to give a ruling. In the course of Members' Statements on Thursday last week, hon J D Kilian of Cope asked for clarity on the application of Rule 105 regarding who may respond to particular Members' Statements. I undertook to look into the matter and return to the House with a ruling. Having done so, I now wish to rule as follows: Rule 105, which governs members' statements and Ministers' Responses, is in actual fact quite clear, lucid and very detailed. The Rule initially sets out the manner and time of Members' Statements and then proceeds to set out, with the same attention to detail, the manner and time of Ministers' Responses. It also makes provision for instances where a Minister may not be present to respond. It even determines in which order of preference a colleague may respond on behalf of an absent Minister.
Rule 105(6) says that if a particular Minister was present in the House and the Member's Statement was directed at that Minister, he or she may respond to that statement. The Minister may also respond if the statement was made in respect of his or her portfolio. If the Minister at whom the statement is directed, or in respect of whose portfolio the statement was made, is not in the House, then, in terms of the Rules, the relevant Deputy Minister or another Minister, in that order, may respond to the statement.
Prior to 2005, the Guidelines for Members' Statements and Ministers' Responses determined that only a Minister from a particular Cabinet cluster could respond on behalf of his or her absent colleague from the same cluster. However, the Rules were then adjusted to provide that any Minister may now respond on behalf of an absent colleague, provided that the relevant Deputy Minister is not in the House. That was the case when Minister Manuel and Minister Pandor responded on behalf of their absent colleagues last week. Their responses were therefore in order.
Rule 105 also ensures that a member's statement dealing with a single matter is not responded to twice, as it would either have been directed at a particular Minister or it would have been made in respect of a particular Minister's portfolio. I also want to appeal to hon members of the Cabinet to assist the Chair by adhering to the prescripts of the Rule and to respond only to those statements directed at you or the ones made in respect of your specific portfolio.
While we are discussing this Rule, I want to appeal to members of the House and members of the executive alike to adhere to the time limits set by the Rules, namely one-and-a-half minutes for a statement and two minutes for a response. If Ministers wish to respond to more than one statement and consequently speak for more than two minutes, they should seek the advice of the Chair first, as the Presiding Officer may want to give other Ministers an opportunity too. A maximum of six Ministers' responses are allowed by this Rule. I thank you.