ONE positive outcome of Thursday evening's police invasion of the National Assembly is that it has dragged our attention, here at the Mahogany Ridge, away from the lubed orbs and fissures of "media personality" Kim Kardashian and back to matters of national importance.

This took some doing. The Kardashian thrall is not a trifling matter. Scientists had landed a spacecraft on a speeding comet more than 500 million kilometres from Earth and yet, bafflingly, the world's social media all but ignored this extraordinary achievement and instead went bonzo over Kardashian's nude photo shoot for some fashion rag. Such is her strange power.

We were just poring over the pictures ourselves, looking for clues as to why this would be, when word arrived of the chaos at Parliament, reluctantly dragging us back to the real world.

It had started with Small Business Minister Lindiwe Zulu screaming for the blood of Economic Freedom Fighters whip Godrich Gardee as her colleague, Social Development Minister Bethabile Dlamini, physically restrained her from launching herself at him.

This was a regrettable turn of events. The brawl should have gone ahead. Tensions had been running high as frustration mounted over attempts by opposition MPs to delay the adoption of the controversial report by the ad hoc committee on the security upgrades at Nkandla. As well as allowing MPs to let off some steam, a scrap in the corridor outside the chamber would have been a welcome diversion. 

It would have also allowed Speaker Baleka Mbete a chance to take a few deep breaths and regain her composure - if not her control over proceedings.

And the cops would have enjoyed it, too. Perhaps then they wouldn't have been so bad-tempered when they barged into the chamber to remove EFF MP Ngwanamakwetle Mashabela. She'd been ordered out the House for refusing to retract her comments that President Jacob Zuma was a thief and a criminal, but she refused to move. At least five DA MPs were reportedly assaulted and injured in the melee that followed.

Understandably, there were questions about safety at the post-fracas briefing on Friday morning. 

Mbete and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Lechesa Tsenoli, who addressed the briefing, were also asked about the damage to Parliament's reputation. One reporter, pointing out that MPs had expressed "a fear of even coming to work" and that the EFF had "released a statement saying that it seems like they have to start developing mechanisms to defend themselves in the House", put it thus: "Are you concerned about [a] possible backlash?"

Tsenoli responded by suggesting there was "no need for no need for anybody to want to get protection" provided they chose to resolve conflicts by "a democratic process" and not use fists and "other things" to settle differences.

"We expect members to behave appropriately," Tsenoli said. "Then they will not provoke conflcts in the House. . . the police will not have to enter into issues which they are not meant to be doing except where there is a requirement for them to protect, which is their mandate."

In other words, obey the rules of the House - or rather, do as the Speaker says - and your head won't get cracked.

Mbete's response was even stranger. She was concerned with the term "backlash" as it suggested "apportioning blame" - but then went on to do a little apportioning herself. Like most of those in public office, Mbete does enjoy the sound of her own voice, and is prone to interminable prattle - even if it makes no sense. Here then is a small verbatim sample of Mbete's response to the "backlash" poser:

"I want to use that to actually say it has been a matter of concern to us that the media has been quite ready to elaborately put out messages, create a picture that's based on a one-sided understanding of events, without actually . . . most definitely not to us, as the people who would have been involved directly, but already apportioning a particular, you know, skewed understanding of where things start or how it is that the situation ends up at where it will be. 

"So I must just say for us it's a matter for concern. We want to believe that the media has a responsibility to inform and that in order to be put in a position to inform in a balanced fashion, views from all angles have to be entertained. In fact, in my view, the media ought to actually go all out to make sure that they have a balanced understanding of what's going on."

Good idea. Hence the asking of questions at press briefings. Such as the "backlash" query. The short answer to which would probably be: "No."

This article first appeared in the Weekend Argus.

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