Africa-Press – Eswatini. The House of Assembly had to be adjourned indefinitely as Members of Parliament (MPs) didn’t form a quorum yesterday.
The legislators were one member short from forming the quorum, which stands at 30 and Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga, who was presiding, had to adjourn the House as per the Standing Orders. The procedure dictates that: “If at the expiration of 15 minutes after the hour appointed there be no quorum present, the Speaker shall take the chair and adjourn the House to its next sitting day. “Where the Speaker has adjourned the House under paragraph (2), the hour of that adjournment and the names of the members present shall be entered in the votes and proceedings,” read the Standing Orders.
Sitting
Clause 34 of the Standing Orders provides that if it appears during any time of a sitting on notice being taken, or on the report of a division that a quorum is not then present, the Speaker shall, if after an interval of five minutes a quorum is still not present, adjourn the House, without question put, until its next sitting day, and a similar entry shall be made in the Votes and Proceedings as referred to in Standing Order No. 27 (procedure if no quorum at hour of sitting).
At the hour of sitting, there were 24 legislators in the House and upon taking his seat, the Speaker was notified by Gilgal MP Sandla Fakudze that they did not form the quorum, hence could not continue with parliamentary business as that would be in breach of the Standing Orders. The Speaker adjourned the House for five minutes, with the hope that more MPs would come. However, only five legislators, as well as the Attorney General Sifiso Mashampu Khumalo, joined the rest of the MPs in the House within the adjournment period. After the five minutes adjournment elapsed, the Speaker was again notified that the House still did not form a quorum and this time, it was Sithobelweni MP Bhekitje Dlamini.
It was then that the Speaker adjourned the House sine die (indefinitely) with no Parliament business undertaken. According to civilsdaily, adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period, that is, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly; it is called adjournment sine die. The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House. Failure to form a quorum also occurred in the House sitting on Wednesday and the Speaker had to adjourn the House for 15 minutes. However, the legislators did arrive during the adjournment period and they eventually exceeded the quorum figure.
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