Johannesburg - The in-fighting in the Economic Freedom Fighters' (EFF) ranks looks set to intensify with news that the party’s National Disciplinary Committee is set to hold a press conference on Saturday over the case of the so-called Group of Four.
Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, Mpho Ramakatsa, Lucky Twala and Andile Mngxitama have been suspended since February following accusations of corruption and cover-ups directed at the EFF leadership.
The EFF sent out an alert earlier on Saturday in which it detailed a lunchtime press conference in Braamfontein in Johannesburg to be addressed by its National Disciplinary Committee “on the outcomes of the disciplinary action against the Group of Four”.
The suspended MPs earlier this week revealed that they had written to the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, for the second time in a month demanding access to Parliament.
Mngxitama said Baleka had a duty to ensure that the group were accommodated in the national legislature while they were challenging their suspension in the Gauteng High Court.
They tried to return to Parliament in March but found that the locks on their office doors had been changed.
“We are still MPs,” he told the African News Agency on Thursday.
In their letter, the group reminded Mbete that they had previously written to her in March and said her failure to intervene thus far, had prevented them from doing their work.
“We remain members of the EFF and Members of Parliament and your failure to address our grievances is preventing us from conducting our duties as parliamentarians. Kindly attend to our grievances, and if necessary, make the necessary arrangements to provide us with temporary parliamentary chambers to permit us to perform our parliamentary duties.”
A Parliamentary spokesperson said the letter had not yet reached the office of the Speaker.
The party has maintained that the four were “fully suspended” pending the outcome of disciplinary processes against them, which they had elected not to attend.
ANA