DA: Nkandla ad hoc committee a victory
Lindiwe Mazibuko says the committee is a chance to get answers from all those implicated.
CAPE TOWN - The DA says the establishment of an ad hoc committee to consider the public protector's Nkandla report and President Jacob Zuma's response is a victory for Parliament.
The party's parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko says the committee is a chance to get answers from all those implicated in the spending scandal, including Zuma.
She says it's the first step to Zuma's impeachment, but the ANC disagrees.
The big question is the scope of the committee's mandate, but Mazibuko is optimistic it will be wide ranging.
She says it must decide whether the president violated the Constitution and misled Parliament as a first step towards removing him from office.
But ANC spokesperson Moloto Mothapo says the DA is electioneering.
He says the committee will not be deciding whether or not the president should be impeached.
Mothapo says the ANC welcomes the appointment of the ad hoc committee and will announce its members later.
Political parties say National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu has done the right thing by referring the Nkandla report to a special committee of Parliament.
The decision was announced on Wednesday night, a week after President Jacob Zuma submitted Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report and his response to Parliament.
Madonsela found that the president and his family improperly benefitted from some of the upgrades to his private home.
