Thursday, June 12, 2008

Politicians cut back ... their lunchbreak

LUNCHTIME – we have saved 43 minutes on the day so far and with deputy-speaker Gloria Barry cutting the lunch break to 40 minutes the long weekend is looming. Some of the MPLs have their cars packed, petrol tanks full and attendance on the last afternoon is likely to drop off.

It’s all a bit reminiscent of the old pre-1994 House of Assembly, when MPs left their briefcases in the lobby outside the Chamber ready for a quick spring for the exit and the bus back to the parliamentary compound.

No joy for the DA’s Bobby Stevenson in the Safety and Liaison debate. The Blobster, as Tony Leon used to call him, was hoping to prise some information out of MEC Thobile Mhlahlo on the Standard House stand-off on Monday night (when police arrested a number of ANC members holding a sit-in protest at the party's regional headquarters).

Mhlahlo, however, told “the Honourable Bobby” that this was not a government matter but an ANC matter and the “ANC will deal with it”.

No comments: