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Parliament compiles rules to impeach a sitting president

22 January 2018, 9:47 PM |

Abra Barbier | @SABCNews

Parliament's Legal Service has come up with two draft proposals for a parliamentary procedure to remove the president from office in terms of section 89 of the Constitution.

Image: sabc

Parliament's Legal Service has come up with two draft proposals for a parliamentary procedure to remove the president from office in terms of section 89 of the Constitution.

The Chairperson of the sub-committee on the review of the National Assembly Rules, Richard Mdakane has confirmed that the legal service unit of Parliament has completed the formulation of the first draft proposal of the Rules.

They are aimed at regulating the removal of a President from office in terms of section 89 of the Constitution.

The process follows the recent Judgment of the Constitutional Court. It ordered the National Assembly to establish proper mechanisms for the impeachment of a sitting President.

Mdakane says members of the sub-committee have been furnished with the draft proposals to go through before the committee reconvenes on Thursday to further discuss the proposals.

“…This is not about the current President, but about any sitting President. They want to work right through Feb to deal with it, and present to the National Assembly…”

The committee sat in the second week of January, in compliance with the Constitutional Court order that the necessary rules should be drawn up without delay.

Section 89 of the Constitution provides for the removal of a President. The National Assembly now has to put a process in place to regulate this.

Last week, the subcommittee on the review of the National Assembly Rules requested the legal unit to formulate the draft proposals to be considered by the subcommittee on National Assembly Rules to give effect to section 89 of the constitution.

The legal unit has proposed that the National Assembly must either establish a committee of the Assembly or a panel consisting of five retired judges to consider the matter.

Chairperson of the subcommittee on the review of the National Assembly rules Richard Mdakane has confirmed that all members of the subcommittee have been given the draft proposals to consider before the subcommittee resumes on Thursday.

The Constitutional Court ordered the National Assembly in December to establish a proper mechanism for the impeachment of a sitting president.

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