Cape Town - Members of Parliament’s powers and privileges committee were left stunned when EFF leader Julius Malema led his 19 MPs out of Tuesday’s disciplinary meeting after saying it should be Speaker Baleka Mbete facing censure over the abandoning of the August presidential question time.
After a brief committee discussion triggered by opposition party members concerned with possible perceptions of bias, the powers and privileges committee decided to go ahead with the contempt of Parliament proceedings in the absence of the EFF.
The parliamentary disciplinary hearing arises from the EFF’s “pay back the money” ruckus on August 21 when the party challenged President Jacob Zuma for not answering with a date and time when he would repay at least some of the costs of the R215 million taxpayer-funded security upgrades at his Nkandla home as the public protector had found. Riot police were called and the National Assembly sitting was adjourned.
“It is our considered view that Baleka Mbete should appear before this committee because she made illegal threats to members of the EFF...
“It is our considered view that Baleka Mbete should be charged because the House collapsed due to her lack of patience and leadership...” Malema said bluntly on Tuesday.
The committee should abandon what were “compromised proceedings” as its members, the majority who are from the ANC, were “conflicted” and thus biased as the judge, complainant and witnesses were all from the ANC, he said.
“You represent the complainant (Mbete), you represent the subject of the complaint, President Zuma, you represent (ANC secretary-general) Gwede Mantashe. You are the witnesses, you are the complainant, you are the prosecutor and you are the judge and the jury. You see nothing wrong in your conflicting role,” said Malema, also highlighting Mbete’s double job as Speaker and ANC national chairwoman.
However, the committee rejected the claim of bias and predetermination of the outcome. And the ANC chief whip’s office agreed.
“We reject strongly the EFF’s unfounded accusations levelled against the ANC that it has imposed its wishes on the committee and that any decision it makes is predetermined,” the ANC chief whip’s office said. “By running away from the committee... the 20 EFF MPs not only deprived themselves of an opportunity to defend themselves against the grave charges, but they have also proven that the charges might be too strong for them to challenge.”
After the presidential question-time fracas, the ANC called for the harshest steps against the EFF whose “pay back the money” chanting was also described as “not a political challenge to the ANC, but a clear attack on legitimate democratic institutions”.
The powers and privileges committee was established within 48 hours, several months after the other parliamentary committees had been formed.
Established under the 2004 Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, a guilty verdict by the committee could lead to a formal warning, reprimand, an order to apologise, a fine of a month’s salary, the suspension of a parliamentarian’s right to participate in any proceedings, or the suspension of a parliamentarian, with or without pay, for up to 30 days. Such proceedings do not preclude criminal investigations against parliamentarians.
Tuesday’s powers and privileges committee meeting, which was open to the media and public, was the first time MPs got to grips with the details of the incident, including viewing video clips from that day. Previous sittings dealt with logistics and administrative matters. The proceedings came after an initial move to suspend the EFF members pending an investigation was not pursued at the end of August amid a thread of legal proceedings by the EFF.
Malema on Tuesday maintained what happened that day in the national legislature was triggered by Zuma not answering the EFF question when he would repay at least some of the Nkandla security upgrade costs.
“There is a difference between a response and an answer, and what Jacob Zuma did on the said date was to respond to the question and failed to answer the simple question of when he will pay back the money.”
The ruckus broke out after several EFF MPs complained there had been no answer after Zuma responded to the question with: “I have responded to the reports about Nkandla... The reports are not only the public protector... I responded to all the reports as I am supposed to and I hope we are not going to have a debate because I have responded appropriately.”
The powers and privileges committee is one of two at Parliament dealing with Nkandla-related matters. The ad hoc committee on the Nkandla security upgrades is preparing its report without participation of opposition parties.
Political Bureau