Cape Town - The Chief Whip of the ANC in Parliament, Dr Mathole Motshekga, has tabled a notice of a motion in the National Assembly to have Cope leader Mosioua Lekota sanctioned for misleading Parliament.
During members' statements session in the House on October 23, 2012, Lekota claimed that “the President's office defied an order by the Supreme Court of Appeals to hand over the abbreviated transcripts of the terms that permitted criminal charges to be dropped or withdrawn against him”. Based on this claim, Lekota then called for “impeachment procedures” to be instituted against President Jacob Zuma for “defying a lawful judicial order”.
Motshekga’s office has stated that the Supreme Court of Appeal of the Republic of South Africa issued no such order against the President or the President's Office.
“In terms of the judgement of the Supreme Court of Appeals in the DA vs. the National Director of Public Prosecutions case, the judicial order was directed at the “first respondent” - which is the NPA.
“The order of Judge Judge Mahomed Navsa of the SCA reads thus: “In the Rule 6(11) application the first respondent (the NPA) is directed to produce and lodge with the Registrar of this Court the record of the decision”. There was no order by the Supreme Court of Appeal against the President or his office to produce any record or documents.”
Motshekga says by claiming that the President has defied a lawful judicial order, Lekota lied to Parliament, which is a serious breach of “the practices, precedents and conventions governing the business of the House.”
Motshekga has called for the Cope leader to be sanctioned for “knowingly presenting false information before Parliament.
“The Chief Whip's Motion proposed that Lekota face public condemnation by Parliament; be instructed to unconditionally withdraw his statements and apologise to the President; and face censure for misleading Parliament.” - Sapa