DEPUTY President Kgalema Motlanthe and Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu have been asked to intervene in the row between Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and MPs over her refusal to let them see explosive interim reports on the state of the military.
Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Defence, Nyami Booi, yesterday confirmed that he has forwarded legal opinion to Motlanthe in his capacity as head of government business in Parliament and to the speaker, indicating that MPs had a right to the reports.
Booi passed on an eight-page report from parliamentary legal advisor Mukesh Vassen to the deputy president and the speaker last Thursday, after Sisulu appeared to browbeat the committee into accepting that it had no right to the documents.
In the latest of a series of tense meetings with MPs, the minister insisted that she could not release interim reports because they were "work in progress".
She said she was obliged only to release the final findings of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission, and then only after its report had been endorsed by Cabinet.
Vassen disagreed: "It is trite law that the PC (portfolio committee) has oversight over the ministry."
He said in his letter to Booi: "Furthermore, as the reports in question clearly relate to the functioning, organisation and staff of the SANDF (SA National Defence Force), the PC is entitled to request the minister to make the documents available irrespective of whether or not the minister regards the reports as finalised."
Booi said members of the committee had to apply their minds to the matter and consider Vassen's advice before deciding whether they would seek to compel Sisulu to submit the reports.
Interim findings by the commission leaked to the Sunday Times painted a damning picture of service conditions in the military, warning that this undermined morale and potentially even national security.
In a meeting with reporters last Thursday, Sisulu conceded that she had acted on interim findings of the commission by adjusting the pay of lower ranks in the defence force.
DA MP David Maynier said it was strange that she could refuse to release the reports despite implementing their recommendations.
'Minister has got it wrong'
DEPUTY President Kgalema Motlanthe and Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu have been asked to intervene in the row between Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and MPs over her refusal to let them see explosive interim reports on the state of the military.
Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Defence, Nyami Booi, yesterday confirmed that he has forwarded legal opinion to Motlanthe in his capacity as head of government business in Parliament and to the speaker, indicating that MPs had a right to the reports.
Booi passed on an eight-page report from parliamentary legal advisor Mukesh Vassen to the deputy president and the speaker last Thursday, after Sisulu appeared to browbeat the committee into accepting that it had no right to the documents.
In the latest of a series of tense meetings with MPs, the minister insisted that she could not release interim reports because they were "work in progress".
She said she was obliged only to release the final findings of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission, and then only after its report had been endorsed by Cabinet.
Vassen disagreed: "It is trite law that the PC (portfolio committee) has oversight over the ministry."
He said in his letter to Booi: "Furthermore, as the reports in question clearly relate to the functioning, organisation and staff of the SANDF (SA National Defence Force), the PC is entitled to request the minister to make the documents available irrespective of whether or not the minister regards the reports as finalised."
Booi said members of the committee had to apply their minds to the matter and consider Vassen's advice before deciding whether they would seek to compel Sisulu to submit the reports.
Interim findings by the commission leaked to the Sunday Times painted a damning picture of service conditions in the military, warning that this undermined morale and potentially even national security.
In a meeting with reporters last Thursday, Sisulu conceded that she had acted on interim findings of the commission by adjusting the pay of lower ranks in the defence force.
DA MP David Maynier said it was strange that she could refuse to release the reports despite implementing their recommendations.
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