Cape Town - National Assembly Speaker and ANC chairwoman Baleka Mbete on Wednesday apologised to EFF leader Julius Malema for describing him as a cockroach.
“I apologise unconditionally, to South Africans, to Parliament and Honourable Julius Malema for any hurt or harm I may have caused,” she said in a statement.
“If we don't work we will continue to have cockroaches like Malema roaming all over the place,” the Mail&Guardian online quoted her as saying at an African National Congress North West congress on the weekend.
Mbete said she had been thinking long and hard about her words.
“I have concluded that my remarks, all offending statements I made, were inappropriate. The manner in which they came across was unfortunate and regrettable.”
She withdrew the remarks unreservedly.
Earlier, the SA Human Rights Commission said it had received a complaint from a member of the public over Mbete's remarks. The complaint was one of hate speech and incitement to violence, spokesman Isaac Mangena said.
During Tuesday's debate on President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address (SONA), Economic Freedom Fighters MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, supported by Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu, said Mbete should withdraw the remark.
Malema asked National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise to rule on the matter ahead of the debate.
“The Speaker said somewhere that members are cockroaches... and we want that clarified before we proceed,” he said.
Modise said she could not make a ruling and could not apologise on Mbete's behalf.
“What I can do is convey the sentiment and the message of this House to the Speaker.”
Sapa