Johannesburg - Parliament’s presiding officers on Tuesday sidestepped questions about the cellphone signal jammer that delayed the start of Thursday’s State of the Nation Address, saying the responsible state department would hold a media briefing.
On Wednesday a tweet by @StateSecurityRS said: “The entire Security Cluster including Minister Mahlobo will brief the media and take questions tomorrow morning.”
On Tuesday, Parliament’s political bosses admitted they had been told about “a machine” during a security preparations briefing on the eve of President Jacob Zuma’s speech, but did not ask about it.
“We became aware there was a plan for certain equipment to be deployed without necessarily knowing details because it was an item dealing with what measures had to be taken for the protection, in particular, of the head of state and the deputy president,” said National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete.
She said the briefing involved parliamentary structures and directors-general from the relevant organs of state, in particular the security cluster.
“The department that owns the device is part of that structure,” Mbete said.
National Council of Provinces chair Thandi Modise added: “The words they used was ‘somebody has some machines’. Now we did not get into understanding that because, surely, if the understanding was that there was going to be scrambling, we would have wanted to know.”
While insisting the media were not the target of the jamming device, presiding officers failed to specify who was.
Despite repeated requests to identify the department, the presiding officers also declined to do so.
“We are aware those concerned will issue a report to Parliament and give a media briefing on what this was all about,” Mbete said.
On Friday, the SAPS and State Security Agency referred to Parliament all queries about the signal jammer and the deployment of security operatives dressed like waiters to remove EFF parliamentarians.
Zuma’s address was delayed by about 20 minutes as calls of “Bring back the signal” from the media gallery in the National Assembly were taken up by opposition parties.
When the Address finally got under way, it was again interrupted by pandemonium as security operatives - including public order police (colloquially known as riot police), other police officers and parliamentary protection services - kicked, pulled and pushed EFF parliamentarians out of the chamber.
The EFF had raised points of privilege and order about when Zuma would answer questions regarding when he would repay at least some of the money for security upgrades undertaken at his private Nkandla homestead.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s presiding officers also downplayed the deployment of the mix of public order police, police officers and parliamentary protection services.
Dressed in standard waiters’ attire of white shirts and black pants, it appears this was a transgression of the Police Act, which requires police officers to be identifiable as such.
“How they dress is their operational business,” said Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli, as Modise later added: “At our level, we are not involved in operational issues. All we know is that there’s an agreement between Parliament and the relevant ministers in the security that all goes well.”
While presiding officers indicated there would be a report soon on the cellphone signal jammers, it remains unclear whether a similar account would be presented about the security operatives’ deployment.
Meanwhile, an urgent application to prohibit the use of cellphone network blocking devices in Parliament was postponed in the high court in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The postponement follows negotiations between lawyers for Parliament and those for media houses Primedia Broadcasting and Media24.
“Regrettably, those negotiations have failed,” Steven Budlender, for Primedia Broadcasting, told the court.
Norman Arendse SC, who was representing Parliament, submitted an unsigned affidavit from Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana in which assurances are made that jamming devices would not be used in future.
However, parties could not reach an agreement on the live video and audio feeds from the House, which the applicants do not want interrupted.
The case is due to be heard on February 26.
The DA and EFF have indicated that they will approach the courts about the summoning of police to remove MPs.
Political Bureau