Cape Town - The parliamentary committee investigating the commotion that brought President Jacob Zuma’s question time to a halt last week will meet on Monday to finalise the charges against 20 EFF MPs.
Powers and privileges committee chairman Lemias Mashile (ANC) said on Saturday that the charges had been formulated, but needed to be presented to the committee for its approval before individual MPs were notified of the charges against them.
The formal inquiry would begin five days later, probably in the following week.
The main charges were that some MPs defied the instructions of Speaker Baleka Mbete and then caused a disturbance which prevented the House from completing its business, but the EFF members would be charged separately according to their actions on the day.
This process is parallel to notices served on EFF MPs this week notifying them of Mbete’s intention to request the National Assembly on Tuesday to suspend them without pay. If that resolution is passed the 20 will be suspended immediately for a period ranging from seven to 14 days, depending on the severity of their actions.
The EFF wrote back to Mbete on Friday, threatening to obtain an urgent interdict against this suspension if she failed to withdraw the notice.
She has been given until Sunday to respond.
Parliament spokesman Luzuko Jacobs said it would be premature for him to comment on the EFF response before Mbete had announced her decision.
EFF leader Julius Malema argued in his letter to the Speaker that she had never instructed him specifically either to sit down or leave the House, but instead had said she would ask security to remove “those members who are not serious about the business of the House”.
This could not have referred to him, Malema argued, because he was quite serious in his demand that Zuma should respond to his question on when he would repay a portion of the costs of the security upgrades at his Nkandla home, as instructed by the public protector.
Malema also argued EFF members had begun chanting “pay back the money” only after Mbete had suspended proceedings, which meant the rules of Parliament did not apply at the time.
Mashile said the powers and privileges committee had not yet viewed footage of the incident but its members had all been in the House on the day.
However, the committee had been furnished with the relevant material, including audiovisual recordings and a transcript of the Hansard.
It would also be interviewing security and table staff who witnessed the events and interacted with the EFF MPs when they were asked to leave.
After this it would give the accused MPs an opportunity to respond in person.
The EFF, meanwhile, would have to nominate one of its five remaining MPs to represent it on the committee, Mashile said, because none of the accused could sit on the committee to consider their own case.
The committee will choose one of its members to act as a prosecutor in the case and the EFF will be allowed to put forward someone who is not a committee member to represent the defence.
Monday’s meeting would be open to the public, Mashile said, but not the meetings of the inquiry.
Political Bureau