OPPOSITION'S ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SPEAKER

10 September 2014

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip in Parliament dismisses the laughable stunt by a coalition of five opposition parties in which they accused the Speaker of the National Assembly of bias and called for her removal. The rest of opposition parties, seven in number, have snubbed the charade.

Such unimaginative publicity stunts are not new; they have been overused under Lindiwe Mazibuko's coalition that they have become too dull to take seriously. It can only be a patent lack of creativity that the new coalition, led by the curious marriage of the DA's Mmusi Maimane and the EFF's Julius Malema, would rehash such vapid stunts and hope they would succeed.

The call by the EFF and its lackeys today is nothing but a desperate campaign to undermine the process that is currently unfolding in the powers and privileges committee, before which its rowdy and disruptive MPs are appearing on a range of misconduct charges. The allegations levelled against the Speaker are therefore simply baseless and a ridiculous sideshow.

As we said in the past, the Speaker of the National Assembly only acts within the prescribed rules in the management of the sessions of the House. The rules are not the creation of the Speaker or the ruling party, but are made and adopted by all political parties represented in Parliament. Once the rules have been adopted, all parties and their members are expected at all times to abide by them. The Speaker, whose role is to enforce the rules, has always managed the sitting fairly and without fear, favour or prejudice.

In all established democracies with democratic constitutions, a party that wins election selects the head of the executive and head of the legislature. The same applies in the Western Cape legislature and the Cape Town council where the DA is the governing party. But we have become accustomed to the DA sacrificing principle on the altar of expediency. Blue has become the colour of hypocrisy.

Previously, we have seen the EFF calling for an amendment to the Constitution so that a ‘neutral' Speaker in form of a retired judge should preside over debates in Parliament. Our democratic constitution emphasises the principle of separation of powers in which the judiciary, the executive and the legislature exists separately and their powers are not in conflict with each other.

By having a retired judge (who is practically still regarded as part of the judiciary) doubling as a head of the legislature would be tantamount to the judiciary heading another independent arm of the state, a direct attack at the doctrine of separation of powers. Only in a dictatorship such separation of powers are blurred.

Given the illogical and unimaginative nature of the opposition choir's stunts this afternoon, it would be difficult to take their motion seriously. We will react to their motion in the House the same we would with any silly and time-wasting motion.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, September 10 2014

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