Parliament Statement on Congress of the People (COPE)

9 Feb 2011

Parliament yesterday received a letter from Ms Deidre Carter of the Congress of the People indicating that the Congress National Committee of the Party had accepted recommendations from their disciplinary tribunal expelling Mr Mbhazima Shilowa from the party. 

On the same day another letter from Ms Nikiwe Num was received advising that such an expulsion had no standing. 

Parliament has previously been in communication with both Mr Lekota and Mr Shilowa to seek clarity on the leadership structure of COPE. There has been no conclusive resolution to this issue.  

A person loses membership in the Assembly by operation of law, if that person ceases to be a member of the political party that nominated that person as a member of the Assembly. Expulsion thus terminates such membership. The legality of an expulsion is not reviewed by the Speaker as this is a matter that the affected person should, if deemed necessary, take to a court or another appropriate forum for resolution. 

Therefore, if a political party informs the Speaker of an expulsion, according to the internal guidelines applicable to such notice, the Speaker gives effect to that decision. In this regard the designated person of the political party must inform the Speaker in writing that the expulsion is final. In line with the practice in Parliament the affected person is informed accordingly prior to giving effect to the consequences of the expulsion, which is to fill the vacancy. 

The affected person may indicate to the Speaker whether there are any internal processes or court processes that would suspend the loss of membership and thus the implementation of the expulsion and its consequences. 

As indicated the loss of membership is a matter of law and the Speaker must act accordingly. Thus I am unable to give effect to the expulsion until I obtain the necessary clarity. 

For this reason both parties, namely Mr Lekota and Mr Shilowa, are entitled to be present in the House during the State of the Nation address on Thursday evening. 

I have written to both Mr Lekota and Mr Shilowa to communicate Parliament's position in this matter. 

We trust that the two parties will resolve their differences in due course. 

Statement issued by Parliament of South Africa, February 9 2011

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter