Cape Town - The ANC’s boycott of the Western Cape provincial legislature was disrupting its work, Deputy Speaker Piet Pretorius said on Wednesday.
He said some committee meetings had been postponed because quorums couldn’t be formed, but other meetings were going ahead.
ANC MPLs decided this week to boycott some meetings in protest against what they say is the DA “closing democratic space”.
ANC MPLs protested outside the legislature for an hour yesterday and covered their mouths with black cloths.
They held up posters which read: “Zille gags”, “DA attacks democracy”, “DA destroys free speech” and “Suzman is no saint”.
The ANC is contesting Pretorius’s order that ANC MPL Max Ozinsky should withdraw a remark about Helen Suzman during a debate on May 9.
Referring to Helen Suzman and Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers, Ozinsky said “she wanted to kill us”.
ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman said the DA in the Western Cape was denying its MPLs opportunities to debate issues like history, inequality and the plight of the youth in province.
DA chief whip Alta Rossouw said the ANC MPLs were neglecting their own constituents by not attending meetings at the legislature.
“This is a demonstration of what the ANC’s attitude towards democracy is. It is not the DA denying their right to free speech. It is the ANC showing a complete disregard for our democracy,” she said.
She said the ANC’s claims about censorship and closing of democratic space were unfounded, false and very ironic.
She said no ANC MPL had taken part in an oversight visit to Kuils River and Woodstock on Tuesday, while ANC representatives had also failed to attend the three other committee meetings and the public hearing.
ANC chief whip Pierre Uys said Rossouw’s argument was “nonsense” and they would continue with their boycott but would attend meetings that would ensure services were delivered to communities.
Cape Times