Despite calls by the DA to investigate the allegations against her, an ANC motion of confidence is passed in Parliament

CAPE TOWN Opposition parties yesterday praised the invaluable role National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala had played in the development of Parliament, but criticised her for allowing her links with the African National Congress (ANC) to colour her role in the arms deal investigation.

The ANC brought out three heavyweights Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi and senior MPs Pallo Jordan and Jeremy Cronin to defend Ginwala and support an ANC motion of confidence in her in Parliament .

The motion noted that SA was a new democracy and would face new constitutional and procedural issues. Ginwala's role required her to guide Parliament and formulate procedures for it, and she had acted both to strengthen and protect the institution, the motion said.

Criticisms of her should be made by substantive motion in the house.

The motion followed an open letter by United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa accusing Ginwala of bias and unwarranted interference in the workings of Parliament's public accounts committee in regard to the arms probe.

Even Holomisa yesterday lauded the leadership Ginwala had given Parliament.

The major opposition parties favoured a Democratic Alliance amendment calling for the establishment of a multiparty committee to investigate the allegations brought against Ginwala, and to inquire whether the role of the speaker, and her relationship with the executive and the ANC, should be changed. But this was rejected and the ANC's motion was carried.

Jordan said that apart from Westminster and the Zambian parliament, all democratic parliaments he had examined allowed the speaker and presiding officers to be members of political parties. "The unsubstantiated, reckless accusations" against Ginwala were an attack on the dignity and integrity of Parliament, he said, calling on Holomisa to apologise.

Jordan said that in New Zealand the suggestion that the speaker had been partial was considered a breach of parliamentary privilege, inviting disciplinary action.

Fraser-Moleketi said the attempt to create an impression that SA's constitutional democracy was on the verge of a constitutional crisis was "tantamount to treasonous behaviour".

While liberals interpreted the separation of powers as an absolute divide, the Constitutional Court had ruled it to be partial and dynamic. Different democracies had different degrees of separation. The question was not whether Ginwala belonged to a political party, but the way she executed her duties.

DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said a motion of confidence would enforce the will of the majority and was an inappropriate way to deal with a crisis. Ginwala's actions on the arms probe had "blemished her reputation and image". On some occasions she seemed to bend over backwards to assist the executive.

With acknowledgment to Linda Ensor and Business Day.