Missing the point

SIR — In saying that the Democratic Alliance (DA) should have remained in the National Assembly for “all Parliament stands for”, Paul Whelan (DA’s confused motives, Letters, February 17) misses the point. The DA’s action had nothing to do with the Economic Freedom Fighters; the catalyst for the walkout was the presence of armed policemen brought into a sitting Parliament to quell political dissent. This is a clear violation of the constitutionally enshrined principle of separation of powers, so much so that Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng left the House too.

For the DA to participate in a Parliament where freedom of speech is curtailed with jamming devices and armed police masquerade as parliamentary security serves only to legitimise the unconstitutional and give credibility to a parliamentary process that has been subverted to protect one man who is systematically dismantling all democratic institutions that should hold the executive to account.

Cameron MacKenzie

DA MP