Entertainment ‘on the House’ in the year of legislating dangerously
Cops, stun grenades, hurled insults: 2015 was difficult year for Parliament
THIS was the year Parliament and police got cozy with each other. Volleys of stun and smoke grenades were fired twice in three weeks at the People’s Parliament two months ago. And in the final days of the parliamentary calendar, the precinct looked like a parking lot for police vans, as the gates were padlocked to keep out parliamentary workers striking over performance bonuses.
Going into 2016, steps are under way to review the security protocols as Parliament’s presiding officers publicly maintain the whole national legislature precinct is a national key point. However, police top brass told MPs last month there are only three national key points in the parliamentary precinct: the House, 120 Plein Street, where ministers have their parliamentary offices, and the president’s Tuynhuys offices.
This corresponds with the list Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko publicly released following court action driven by the Right2Know Campaign: “While all provincial legislatures are national key points, there are just three such buildings on the parliamentary precinct – Parliament House, 120 Plein Street and Office of the President of SA (Tuynhuys).”
The security protocol review comes amid the controversial security vetting of parliamentary staff whose union, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), maintained during its month-long unprotected strike that it asked for a suspension of the vetting as it had traumatised many. Parliament dismissed this, saying appointments are dependent on passing security vetting.
It remains unclear what level of security clearance is pursued for what category of staff, or whether high-level security clearance is required for everyone. Questions have been raised among employees, and some political parties, whether security clearance should be required: documents handled by, for example, committee staff are already in the public domain, being submissions of public comments on bills and the like.
Political parties like the DA and EFF have raised concerns over the securocratisation of Parliament. For the EFF it’s been an issue close to their bodies: at February’s State of the Nation address they were manhandled out of the House by security forces dressed as waiters, including active members of the public order police unit, colloquially known as the riot police.
Those scenes unfolded after a “Bring Back the Signal” chant from the media gallery when it was discovered cellphones were jammed. Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and State Security Minister David Mahlobo apologised, and blamed the presence of the signal jammer on an oversight by an operative.
Speaker Baleka Mbete later publicly acknowledged that the presiding officers had been told about “a machine” during a briefing on security measures.
“We became aware there was a plan for certain equipment to be deployed… without necessarily knowing details… because it was an item dealing with what measures had to be taken for the protection, in particular of the head of state and the deputy president,” she told journalists.
Although the rules committee later in the year ensured it would not be possible to second public order police officials into the parliamentary protection services, as reportedly planned by Parliament’s administration, today several former riot police officials are members.
Following the finalisation of the rules, they joined after resigning – with immediate effect – from the police in terms of the requirements of the SAPS Act.
With new, tough rules in place for evicting rowdy MPs, presiding officers appeared ready and armed. But it didn’t spell an end to the often terse and acrimonious sessions, speckled with allegations from the opposition benches that presiding officers are biased in favour of the parliamentary majority party, the ANC.
And for Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli, one of those sessions left him with a new nickname – which travelled ahead of him to a recent international meeting of parliamentarians – “Comrade Delela”. That monicker arose from one of several bruising sessions around Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s life as a businessman, this time over company links to supply troubled Eskom – the power utility dubbed Eishkom for its load shedding.
EFF MPs refused to withdraw unparliamentary comments, including claims of thievery, causing an exasperated Tsenoli to say: “Manje niyadelela! (Now you are disrespectful)”.
But EFF leader Julius Malema launched a several-minutes-long verbal rejoinder: “This delela (disrespectful), don’t think about delela. You must withdraw… Is delela parliamentary? You are out of order with that delela. You are undermining yourself. Stop being emotional. This is not a family matter. Delela what? Withdraw that delela!”
Delela aside, this year finally saw the Nkandla saga dealt with, at least from the perspective of the ANC in Parliament. Although the public protector found the R215 million spent on security upgrades at the presidential rural homestead included undue non-security benefits, after sweating buckets, Nhleko said there was no need for the president to repay anything because even the cattle kraal, swimming pool, amphitheatre and chicken run were necessary security measures. The ANC agreed and, on the back of its numbers in the House, adopted a report to this effect in August.
The parliamentary majority party was not so fortunate on some other occasions where insufficient of its numbers were present to maintain a quorum, or 200 plus 1, when the DA walked out.
Such politicking, and delela’s aside, the presidential giggles remained a standing item throughout the year. In his last Q&A for the year, which again left opposition parties frustrated over what they said were non-answers, President Jacob Zuma tacked the giggles head-on. “Where does my laughter hurt you?… I don’t know how to stop my laughter. Is it hurting? No.” But the opposition heckled: “Yes!” much in the same line of EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi’s objection: “This is not Trevor Noah’s show!”
Oversight committee reports fell by the wayside as days in the parliamentary calendar ran out, although a resolution of the House may reinstate these next year. For Parliament’s police committee the work continues next month after its unprecedented Rule 201 recommended boards of inquiry for suspended SAPS boss General Riah Phiyega – and all the provincial police commissioners, who stepped into politics by publicly backing her after the Marikana Commission found had she misled it. Further inputs will be received, before the final report is submitted.
On the legislative front, well, Parliament received 42 bills, passed 25 – including two which the Constitutional Court ordered Parliament to fix and the four statutorily-required laws to give effect to February’s Budget and the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) in October.
That MTBPS was unique: while MPs listened to the message of cost constraints in tough economic times, police fired volleys of stun grenades at #FeesMustFall student protesters who had pushed through the gates and sat down in front of the National Assembly steps. By the time the speech was over, the #FeesMustFall student protesters had been pushed off the precinct. Unlike the students, Nehawu strikers were eventually kept off the premises by an interdict – and police armed with lists of permissible entrants. Outside the gate, scores maintained their protest against an “arrogant” management under Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana – calling out that #MgidlanaMustFall.
A few days after Parliament rose for the year late last month, Mbete acknowledged it had been an eventful and sometimes dramatic year. “Actually, I can’t wait to, frankly, show my back to Cape Town and disappear somewhere,” she added.