Cape Town - While the EFF has given National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula an ultimatum to apologise or face court action over her handling of their ejection from Parliament last week, the institution wants the party discipline
Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo said they have referred the conduct of the EFF MPs to the joint rules committee.
They communicated their decision via the parliamentary communication service known as ATC (Announcements, Tablings and Committees) reports on Friday.
“The circumstances of the physical removal of members from the Chamber during the State of the Nation address (Sona) on February 9 2023, together with the relevant parliamentary records, are referred to the Joint Rules Committee for consideration,” read the ATC.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sona was delayed by almost 45 minutes on Thursday, with the EFF objecting to the joint sitting of Parliament to listen to his address because he took the national legislature to court.
Ramaphosa took the report of the Section 89 panel, which found that he had a case to answer, on judicial review in the Constitutional Court.
When ATM leader Vuyo Zungula rose on his own point of order, he became the first to be ordered to leave the House when he did not follow instructions from Mapisa-Nqakula.
After many points of order and heckling, EFF MPs jumped onto the stage of the Cape Town City Hall as they walked out after being ordered to leave by Mapisa-Nqakula.
Security services and parliamentary protection services entered the Chamber and evicted the placard-wielding MPs.
But, EFF leader Julius Malema on Friday gave Mapisa-Nqakula an ultimatum to apologise for her handling of the debacle or face court action.
“The speaker will get 48 hours upon receiving our letter to publicly withdraw and apologise … in a press conference.
“If (she) fails to do so … we will approach the Constitutional Court because … we think that this matter deals directly with the Constitution,” Malema told a press conference.
He defended their action saying it was a silent protest.“This was peaceful.
There was no singing. It was just going to be standing on the stage silently carrying placards. The president would have proceeded to address in the presence of the protest,” he said.
At the weekend, Malema denied they were to attack Ramaphosa when they climbed on the stage.
The action follows a litany of disruptions by the EFF in Parliament and its MPs being hauled before the Disciplinary Committee.
In June last year, Mapisa-Nqakula referred 12 EFF MPs that were ejected during the chaotic debate on the Budget vote of the Presidency to the sub-committee for Physical Removal of a Member, which considered her report before sending it to Rules Committee and the Powers and Privileges Committee for the Disciplinary Committee.
In 2021, the Powers and Privileges Committee recommended the docking of a month’s salary of 16 EFF MPs after they were found guilty of various charges of contempt of Parliament.
The MPs had tried to block Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan from delivering his Budget vote speech in July 2019.
Cape Times