Party truce ‘a victory for democracy’
HE EFF was quick to describe as a victory for multiparty democracy Parliament’s climb-down over the punishing of its 20 MPs for disrupting the House in August and planned disciplinary action against other MPs for last week’s chaos. This was after the intervention of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday.
The meeting between Ramaphosa and leaders of opposition parties followed the crisis in Parliament over its running.
Ramaphosa told journalists that a committee of party leaders had been established to iron out problems facing Parliament. The committee would hold its first meeting next week and would comprise Ramaphosa, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and opposition leaders.
Punishment for the 20 EFF MPs had included fining some a month’s salary and suspending them for a few days,
“Are we going to put these things that happened into abeyance? Yes, because we are going to find political solutions, collectively as a collective of political leaders,” Ramaphosa said.
“Watch this space because what we want to do as leaders of our people in South Africa is to restore Parliament to its standing so that our people can look at all of us and say, ‘Yes, these people do represent us.’”
Ramaphosa said the opposition pledged to respect leaders
Tof government, who would in turn come to Parliament regularly to account to the legislature and answer “difficult” questions. “We have agreed that we are going to create… a conducive climate for the executive to be accountable to come and answer questions in Parliament,” Ramaphosa said.
“Saying that, we are going to create a climate so that there is respect, there are no insults, there is proper decorum in which all members of the executive can come and answer.”
With this, he appeared to be saying diplomatically that President Jacob Zuma would heed opposition calls to return to the National Assembly to respond to questions.
This was one of the opposition’s grievances that drove tension with the ruling party to breaking point last week.
Zuma has failed to return to the chamber to complete presidential question time after he was heckled by the EFF on August 21.
But the ANC’s spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, said the chaotic scenes in Parliament were “an orchestrated machination by opposition parties to discredit and dislodge” the ANC from power through undemocratic means.
He laid into the DA and the EFF for their “unholy alliance” against the governing party. Kodwa said there was no basis for the amplified calls forZuma to make himself available in Parliament so he could account for the Nkandla scandal.
While the meeting between Ramaphosa and leaders of opposition parties was planned months ago, it came as the parties demanded a political solution to the crisis.
During yesterday’s sitting, the National Assembly was supposed to debate and adopt the report on the punishment of the 20 EFF MPs for causing a riot in the chamber in August, but that was shelved following the intervention by Ramaphosa.
EFF MP Khanyisile Litchfieldsaid the brokering of the truce was a demonstration of the spirit of democracy.
“I think the deputy president has steered this with a lot of assistance from us… This is not a victory for the EFF, it is a victory for multiparty democracy,” she said.
ANC chief whip Stone Sizani said this was not an indication that the party had lost control of Parliament to the opposition. He said the committee would meet on an urgent basis next week to address all the challenges facing Parliament.
DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said the establishment of the committee was an admission by the government that Parliament was not functioning under Mbete.
The DA welcomed the fact that Mbete would also not pursue disciplinary action against some of the MPs for last week’s chaos.
Baldwin Ndaba ANC and EFF members traded insults and exchanged swear words during the official sitting of the Gauteng legislature yesterday in an almost exact replication of the chaos in Parliament last week.
An EFF representative labelled the ruling party the “African National Criminals” and said it was responsible for the looting of the public purse.
The EFF’s Mandisa Mashego also accused the MEC for Human Settlements and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo, of lying to the people of Diepsloot about plans to build houses and a sewerage system, and charged that he was giving government tenders to allies.
The allegations angered the ANC benches, and Community Safety MEC Sizakele NkosiMalobane was heard telling EFF members “nisijwayel’amasimba” (“you are being overfamiliar with us in a s****y way”).
Mashego later withdrew her comments. Nkosi-Malobane refused to leave the House after Speaker Ntombi Mekgwe instructed her to.
During a debate on the illegal sale of land in the Princess informal settlement in Roodepoort, Mashego accused NkosiMalobane of incompetence.
Nkosi-Malobane retorted in Sesotho: “It’s your mother who’s incompetent!”
“This thing (Nkosi-Malobane) is rude,” said an EFF member.