Johnathan Paoli
THE National Assembly on Tuesday night debated and adopted the report of the powers and privileges committee, which recommended the suspension of six EFF leaders including its CIC Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
In addition, the report recommended the docking of one month’s salary for the six MPs and a public apology to President Cyril Ramaphosa in person for disrupting his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February this year.
In its findings the committee, chaired by ANC’s Violet Siwela, found that all six members were guilty.
The initiator, advocate Anton Katz, had proposed that they be banned from Parliament for 10 days until after the 2024 Sona, on February 8.
Siwela said the EFF members had disobeyed the instructions of the Speaker to stop disrupting Ramaphosa.
Parties welcomed the adoption with NFP’s Shaik Emam accusing the party of turning Parliament into a circus.
While DA’s Annelie Lotriet previously called for tougher sanctions. “I would strongly argue that we also impose a sanction or a suspension on those members for a period of a month”.
However, EFF Chairperson Veronica Mente is still adamant that every SONA would be disrupted in order to hold people accountable.
“Every SONA is going to be disrupted for as long as no one is held accountable, for as long as the Phala Phala matter is not resolved,” Mente said.
The EFF MPs were previously charged with contempt of Parliament after storming the stage during SONA in February and allegedly threatening President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The six will be suspended from Parliament without pay in February next year.
However, the party is expected to challenge the suspensions when the matter comes before the Western Cape High Court in early January next year.
IN an unrelated matter, 13 EFF MPs are also facing possible suspension, after being removed during the Presidency’s Budget vote in June last year and during the oral reply session in August last year.
The party’s legal team is expected back in court on Wednesday following the Powers and Privileges Committee’s declaration that it was not ready to subpoena National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to testify during the hearing of thirteen EFF MPs starting next week.
The EFF’s legal team said that Mapisa-Nqakula had to be subpoenaed to the hearing as she was the decision-maker who ordered the removal of the 13 EFF MPs, and that they wanted her to explain her decision and test her side of the story during the hearings.
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