Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
PARLIAMENT degenerated into chaos once again when opposition parties tried to block President Jacob Zuma from addressing the House, labelling him an accused criminal who stole millions from taxpayers.
Later in the debate on the Presidency’s budget vote yesterday, Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli forced DA leader Mmusi Maimane to withdraw his remarks that Zuma was a thief.
On several occasions Maimane referred to Zuma as accused number one and a criminal. This was after security officers had forcefully ejected EFF MPs who caused chaos, drowning Speaker Baleka Mbete’s attempts at restoring order and calling for Zuma to go.
EFF MPs were denying Zuma the chance to address Parliament after findings of the Constitutional Court and the high court in Pretoria last week. The latter court found that then acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority Mokotedi Mpshe acted irrationally when he dropped charges of corruption against Zuma before the 2009 elections.
ANC MP Celiwe Madlopha said it was an insult to call Zuma a criminal when no court has made findings against him. “This president has not been found guilty of corruption by any court, unlike Dianne Kohler Barnard of the DA, found guilty by her own party to be racist.”
Maimane said: “If Mr Zuma has nothing to hide, he will not appeal the judgment. He will have what he has always wanted, his day in court.”
But ANC MPs were up in arms over Maimane’s insistence on calling Zuma a thief.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu also defended Zuma several times. He said there was not a shred of evidence Zuma had benefited from the arms deal.
But DA MPs were unrelenting. Even IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s call to respect Zuma fell on deaf ears. He said he would never call an elderly person a thief. This was aimed at Maimane.
Pieter Groenewald, of the Freedom Front Plus, said claims Zuma did not know about upgrades at Nkandla was not correct. “I want to inform you, Mr President, that you are not ill-informed.”