Durban - EFF leader Julius Malema faces the wrath of Parliament after parties on Wednesday agreed to institute disciplinary action against him for causing disruption in the House last week.
Malema was forcibly removed from the chamber after House chairwoman Grace Borotho asked parliamentary protection officers to eject him for refusing to withdraw his insult to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The rules committee, chaired by Speaker Baleka Mbete, agreed on Wednesday that a disciplinary committee be constituted to look into the conduct of Malema.
During question time to Ramaphosa last week, the EFF leader repeatedly refused to take an instruction from Borotho to leave the House for not withdrawing his remarks that the deputy president was a murderer. Malema had been referring to the Marikana massacre, which the EFF has accused Ramaphosa of orchestrating.
Parliament used its new rules, introduced a few months ago, to deal with disruptive members last week.
Mbete first described the new regulations as uncharted waters for Parliament.
They allow presiding officers to call in protection officers to remove a member who is refusing to obey a presiding officer’s orders to leave the House.
About a dozen parliamentary protection officers entered the chamber to remove Malema after they were ordered to do so by Borotho.
ANC chief whip Stone Sizani told the rules committee that the establishment of a disciplinary committee against Malema would expedite the process.
However, no sanctions were discussed by MPs serving on the rules committee.
In the past, unruly MPs have been suspended from Parliament and their salaries docked.
The proposal to set up the disciplinary committee was backed by the DA and Freedom Front Plus.
Sizani said the level of support from other parties warranted the establishment of a disciplinary committee.
He said it was wrong for an MP to insult another and that the behaviour couldn’t go unpunished.
“We have been cautioned not to insult judges because it reduces the stature of the judiciary” as it did the House, Sizani said.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said his party wanted another rule to be used in the disciplinary committee because Borotho had applied the wrong rule when she called in protection officers. He said that had to be the last resort.
Steenhuisen said the DA backed the establishment of the disciplinary committee.
Corné Mulder of the FF+ also said his party supported disciplinary action against Malema.
It further backed the DA’s proposal that the disciplinary committee consider the circumstances that caused the fracas last week.
The rules committee said parties would have to submit the names of members who would serve on the committee.
In the past, MPs who were hauled before the disciplinary committee were slapped with suspensions from Parliament for a certain period or docked a month’s salary.
The rules committee will send the proposal for the creation of the disciplinary committee to the House sitting for approval in the next few weeks.
Political Bureau