Cape Town - EFF leader Julius Malema on Tuesday said National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s conduct last Thursday had disqualified her as the legitimate Speaker of Parliament.
Speaking during a debate on the State of the Nation Address (Sona), Malema said Mapisa-Nqakula had referred to EFF MPs as animals when they left the Cape Town City Hall chamber.
He also said she had violated the Constitution and rules of the National Assembly when she allowed the police to invade Parliament, and made it worse by calling on the security forces to enter the chamber to intimidate peaceful MPs that held placards protesting against Ramaphosa.
“We have already submitted a motion of no confidence against Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and we officially withdraw our honour we previously showed her.
“We also apologise for having shown her the honour when she evidently does not respect Parliament, does not respect the laws of this country and can do everything to stay in office,” Malema said.
The statements come in the wake of the EFF being ejected from Sona after they initially raised points of order and heckled President Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivered his address.
When Mapisa-Nqakula called out the names of several EFF MPs, they climbed on to the stage where Ramaphosa was seated, holding placards. Security services rushed in to evict them seconds before Mapisa-Nqakula asked them to intervene.
On Friday, Malema gave Mapisa-Nqakula an ultimatum to apologise for her handling of the situation or face court action. On Tuesday, he said that under no circumstances should a democratic Parliament be harassed and intimated by state security forces.
Malema also said the Constitutional Court had ruled that the police must stay away from law-makers.
“It is the responsibility of the Speaker to make sure that MPs execute their responsibilities without any fear or intimidation, but once you usher in police inside the chamber, you are effectively saying and allowing a tyrant to intimidate and even possibly prosecute those who disagree with a tyrant.”
He insisted that the police should never be allowed in the chamber as that was where the members of the executive were held accountable.
“Those in power, if they have no answer, they may be tempted to use security forces to intimate those who hold them accountable,” Malema said.
After the break of the joint sitting, National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo sought to clarify the allegation made by Malema that Mapisa-Nqakula used the word “animal” during Sona.
“These were not the words uttered by the Speaker,” he said.
Masondo said the unrevised Hansard record correctly recorded “animals” as phumani – get out. He said that because the matter was referred to the joint rules committee, both the Hansard and other related documents would be made available to the committee.
EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu said that what Masondo was saying was not a reflection of reality.
“The Speaker said animals out in the process of EFF MP going out. It is on record. That is why we have written to the rules committee, and lodged and tabled a motion of no confidence. That is the most irresponsible thing to be said by anyone,” he said. “There can't be a record of Parliament that says there was no such. It was said by an extremely irresponsible and reckless Speaker.”
Shivambu said the process of the joint rules committee should deal with the matter.
Also speaking during the Sona debate, ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said Parliament belonged to the people.
“MPs should not be intimidated for doing what they were elected to do,” he said. “The presence of the elite police unit in the chamber speaks to a dictatorship that has crept in our country. It can't be that state institutions will be unleashed on MPs in order to silence and intimidate them,” Zungula said.
He also said Ramaphosa had disregarded the Constitution.
“Were do you get the moral authority to present Sona to the institution you don’t believe can hold you accountable?”
Zungula said Ramaphosa should ask himself what had changed since he became the president.
“The best thing that can happen for the country is your resignation, because you have failed,” he said.
Cape Times