By: Siyabonga Sithole
President, Cyril Ramaphosa and the speaker of Parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula are yet to respond to the recent letter penned by United Democratic(UDM) leader, Bantu Holomisa who has castigated Ramaphosa and Mapisa-Nqakula for not convening a meeting between opposition parties and the President in a bid to find ways to solve problems affecting the country.
In this open letter, Holomisa calls on parliament and the Ramaphosa’s office to speed up convening of a meeting of all political parties represented in parliament to meet and map out a new path for economic growth and other ills crippling and afflicting the country adding that efforts to convene such a gathering were met with “ unenthusiastic response” since the first time he wrote to parliament with this request in March.
On March 18 and was met with lackadaisical response from Parliament to convene a meeting between the President and members of all the opposition parties.
These assertions are contained in an open letter by Holomisa imploring the president to put the country before the ANC instead of the current perception that the President was putting the party's interest ahead of those of the citizens of the country.
“ I refer to a specific resolution that we had taken at a meeting of political leaders represented in parliament on 15 March and the speaker of parliament.
“ We wrote to the speaker on 18 March to seek a meeting in order to raise with her our concerns about Mpati and Zondo Commissions and the implementation of the findings and recommendations.
“ Despite the distinct urgency of the matters, the somewhat unenthusiastic response seeks to send a clear message that the ANC has made a priority clear, party first, country second.
Holomisa said in a country where the issues affecting ordinary citizens have become insurmountable, the President should be providing a proactive approach to solving the myriad of problems affecting economic growth and the continued unemployment crisis among other issues.
“The future of this country, economic growth and job creation are at the top of the to-do-list, but looting, state response and not facing consequences are.
With issues not being tackled head-on, Holomisa feels that the country could benefit from an all inclusive committee represented by all opposition parties in parliament.
“Perhaps our time will be more fruitfully spent funding ways to establish a committee with representation from each party in parliament to explore possibility of approaching a University ( school governance) to request them to find mechanisms to change legislation to protect the country's resources and to find tools to ensure commissions of inquiry do not become wasted resources, as is the perception, the letter recommends.
He said such an economic conference should be convened with political parties, academics and civil servants contributing to the solutions to the country's many problems.
Attempts to get comments from the office of the President and Speaker of Parliament’s office were not successful.