Riyaz Patel
Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Thandi Modise, has denied an urgent request by DA leader Mmusi Maimane to question President Cyril Ramaphosa on CR17 payments to cabinet ministers.
In a statement, Modise outlined the process for such a request to be granted by the NA.
Maimane lodged an application yesterday to have his urgent question added to the order paper for Ramaphosa’s Q&A session Thursday.
She said Maimane’s application had to be submitted by noon on the day before the day ‘the question’ is to be answered.
Modise added that ‘an urgent question,’ if approved, takes precedence over all other questions on question day.
She further said that an urgent request will only be considered if the matter is of “national importance,” and will not be granted if the issue can be addressed via other channels in the near future.
But, Modise said, Maimane’s request to have his urgent question added to Thursday’s order paper was denied because he had submitted his request after 12h00, thereby infringing Rule 141(2) of the NA
