The opposition party, Democratic Alliance (DA) said that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to a “top-secret” government document is suspicious.
The response to the documents allegedly makes “disturbing” constitutional proposals and has been highly evasive.
DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cilliers Brink said the party received a formal response from Ramaphosa following its parliamentary question, but it was not good enough.
The DA, who revealed the document last month, said that no one from the African National Congress (ANC) or government has denied the authenticity of its content.
Brink said the president was given the chance to clarify the matter but his response raised suspicions.
The document, leaked to the DA by a government official, proposes the establishment of permanent command councils with executive powers.
It appeared on the letterhead of Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and is marked “top secret”.
The unknown author describes the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as “exemplary” and suggests that all this creates a chance for centralising power in the hands of the national government.
“If the top-secret document isn’t an elaborate hoax – if discussions inside the Ramaphosa administration are in fact animated by plans of a new command and control system of government – then South African people deserve advance notice,” added Brink.
Brink added that Ramaphosa avoided discussing the top-secret document and he is yet to provide a clear response.
“The DA does not believe that the President’s reply meets the standards set by the Rules of the National Assembly – which require the Executive to account to Parliament.”
“We will be writing to the Speaker to request her to order the President to render a substantive reply”.
