Parliament - Economic Freedom Fighters MPs found themselves outnumbered in Parliament’s rules committee on Wednesday as other opposition parties, along with the ruling African National Congress, agreed on a parliamentary rule change to deal with disorderly MPs.
The proposed rule amendment, brought on by the June 18 disruption of President Jacob Zuma’s question and answer session in the National Assembly by the EFF, states that an MP who refuses to leave the House when ordered to do so by a presiding officer can be removed by the serjeant-at-arms, or a member of the parliamentary protection services.
That member would then automatically be suspended from Parliament for five working days if it is a first offence, 10 working days if it is the second infringement and 20 working days if it is a third offence.
It also spells out the standard operating procedure to be followed during the removal of an errant MP.
“We cannot be held to ransom by one political party,” said ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude.
“If people try to disrupt the House, of course we must have the parliamentary protection services come in to remove them.”
The EFF dug its heels in, with MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi saying the application of “banana laws” would not solve the problem.
“We are not making laws rationally. We are emotional and you are not solving an EFF problem. We are solving a crisis of the rules,” said Ndlozi.
The EFF said as long as there was a suspicion that presiding officers were biased towards the ruling party, the problem would persist.
“The right to participate in the House must never be taken away from you purely because in the opinion of the presiding officers you are guilty,” Ndlozi added.
“There must be a due process, then your right can be taken away later because your side of the story would be heard, so that can be agreed. Arbitrary decision its like barbaric, so to speak.”
The EFF found no other political party willing to back its stance.
“Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures to be taken and we are meeting now because we need to take extraordinary measures given the circumstances that prevailed not only last week, but on the 21 of August,” said Inkatha Freedom Party MP Narend Singh, insisting that disruptions of the House sitting disadvantaged other opposition parties.
“When a referee in a soccer match gives you a red card, then you walk. You might be unhappy with that decision, but you walk. “
Democratic Alliance chief whip John Steenhuisen was adamant that Parliament was empowered by the Constitution to make its own rules, and that it could not do so to suit only one political party.
“We have a situation where people’s rights to express themselves in the House, to represent their voters’ interests, to ensure they perform the task they were sent here to do, is being impeded…and I take exception to that,” he said.
“I believe we must have a rules in place to deal with this particular problem.”
EFF MP Hlengiwe Maxon accused the parties of imposing rules in the manner the National Party did during the apartheid dispensation.
“We are treated like stepchildren in this Parliament. That is one of the reasons we saying we need a political solution not the rules,” she said.
Freedom Front Plus MP Corne Mulder retorted: “There are many parents in this room and all the parents will know there’s a huge difference between stepchildren and naughty children.”
Mulder said it was not freedom of speech that was under threat as its was MPs behaviour, and not what they were saying, which would see them removed from the Parliamentary precinct.
“The majority of parties around this table have come to a point where we’re saying we’ve had enough. It’s not funny anymore. It’s not necessary anymore. We all are representing constituencies,” said Mulder.
Last Thursday, Speaker Baleka Mbete adjourned proceedings after EFF MPs chanted “pay back the money” at President Jacob Zuma, demanding that he declare when he would reimburse a portion of the R246 million of taxpayers’ money used to upgrade his Nkandla home.
In August last year and again in February, she called police into the chamber to remove EFF MPs from the chamber after they confronted the president on the same issue.
ANA