Mbete must take action against Mgidlana

20 May 2016

Parliament’s failure to ensure that its protection service officers wear an identifiable uniform and badges while on duty undoubtedly contributed to the chaos at Tuesday’s oral question session.

Last August I wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, and requested details of the protection service’s recruitment process and uniform. Days later in a Parliamentary Oversight Authority meeting the Secretary of Parliament, Gengezi Mgidlana, informed the Authority ‘that uniforms had been ordered’ and that the white shirts were temporary - Which, along with a supporting resolution, was noted in the meeting's minutes.

Nine months later we are still pregnant with anticipation and about to enter our fourth trimester. It is simply unacceptable that Mr Mgidlana has taken almost a year to outfit this unit. During this time we have seen a number of clashes between this unidentifiable unit and members of Parliament but have struggled to hold them accountable for excessive force and other improprieties.

Yesterday the DA revealed video footage that corroborated reports that two of the so called ‘white shirts’ in the National Assembly (NA) were Julius Malema’s personal bodyguards masquerading as members of parliamentary protection services. This kind of infiltration would have been far less likely had the protection service officers been wearing a real uniform.

I will write to the Speaker to remind her of Mr Mgidlana’s commitment and request that she initiate disciplinary processes against him for failing to meet it. I will also request details about the repeated presence of the President’s security detail in the Parliamentary chamber.

The NA is meant to be an arena of debate, not bouts, and is unlikely to return to the former state until Parliament’s presiding officers and protection services are as accountable for their actions as MPs are for theirs.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the DA, 20 May 2016