The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Nomaindia Mfeketo is not fit for purpose. She does not know the formal rules that govern parliamentary debate. Nor does she understand the point of these rules. Given that it is her job description to be an expert on these crucial determinants of an effective Parliament, quite frankly she should either get something of a skills-upgrade or be "redeployed" in the interests of democracy. Her shocking handling of rather pedestrian criticism levelled against President Jacob Zuma by Congress of the People (COPE) MP Mluleki George is the basis of my own criticism against her.
Here are the essential facts in case you missed the incident (see transcript here). So, George had the audacity of saying in Parliament during the debate on Zuma's state of the nation speech that he felt that our national leader was leading us down a path of lawlessness. Mfeketo's response was to ask George to withdraw the statement. He refused and was ordered to leave the chamber. The rest of the COPE bunch left with him, followed by Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs.
Mfeketo justified her decision on the basis that George's comment was offensive and did not show adequate respect for the office of the president. She claimed that this was in line with rule 66 of the National Assembly rules, which prohibit the competency of some office bearers to be reflected upon.
What utter rubbish, and on so many different levels. First, Mfeketo does not know the very rules she is meant to be enforcing. Rule 66 explicitly refers to the judiciary. It is designed to ensure the integrity of judges remain intact by not allowing political bullies to undermine separation of powers with spurious attacks on the judges.
Indeed, where such judges are deemed to be incompetent, their removal should properly be sought through carefully designed procedures such as the introduction of a substantive motion to that effect.
Furthermore, r ule 66 explicitly allows the government to have its competency reflected upon. One hardly needs to read the fine print to know beforehand that it must be a lie to imagine that MPs cannot express views on government leaders' competency. If they cannot do so, then the very point of parliamentary oversight is thrown out the window.