EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu will face Parliament’s disciplinary committee for saying President Jacob Zuma was the kind of leader who would assassinate his political opponents and refusing to withdraw the remark.
Shivambu made the statement on November 10 last year during a debate on a motion of no confidence brought against Zuma. He called Zuma a “post-colonial disaster”.
“One of the common traits of these people, they seek to enrich their families. They seek to undermine the rule of law. They prosecute and persecute their political opponents, including members of their own party,” he said.
“And when everything else has failed, they kill. They assassinate their opponents.”
Parliament confirmed the referral in terms of rule 219 in its announcements issued on Thursday.
The legislature was due to debate another motion of no confidence against Zuma on Tuesday, but it has been postponed pending the outcome of Constitutional Court application by opposition parties, including the EFF, for the vote to proceed by secret ballot.