GAUTENG PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE

ANNOUNCEMENTS,

TABLINGS AND

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Wednesday, 08 December 2010

ANNOUNCEMENTS

none

TABLINGS

1. The Speaker, Ms L M Maseko tabled a Ruling in terms of Rule 31(1) read together with Rule 32 on an incident that occurred in the Sitting of Friday, 3 December 2010 and Tuesday, 7 December 2010, as follows:

1.1  INTRODUCTION

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature as a law making body encourages Parliamentary Privilege and plays a vital role in oversight over the different Departments. Parliamentary Privilege is the sum of the peculiar rights enjoyed by each Member of the Legislature individually.  Thus privilege, though part of the law of the land, is to a certain extent an exemption from the general law.  Certain rights and immunities such as freedom from arrest or freedom of speech belong primarily to individual Members of the House and exist because the House cannot perform its functions without unimpeded use of the services of its Members. 

1.2  BACKGROUND

During the sitting of the 3 December 2010, Member A H M Papo requested the Speaker (Ms L M Maseko) to make a ruling with regard to a statement made by a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Member G L M Lewis-  in which he referred to the ANC as the "Alex Mafia".  Further statements were made by Member Lewis on the above matter at the sitting of Tuesday 7 December 2010, where he once again referred to the "Alex Mafia". I had indicated that I would look at the Hansard and thereafter make a ruling. In order to arrive at a ruling it is necessary to look at the preceding statements that were made previously in the House whereby a Member of the same party (DA) had referred to a previous Member of the ANC as an "Alex Mafia.

In the Oxford Dictionary the word "mafia" is defined as follows:

"A secret criminal organization originating in Sicily that spread to mainland Italy and the United States and is involved in international drug-dealing, racketeering, gambling, and prostitution"

Reference is further made to the Hansard [LEGIS 26(3)] dated 3 December 2010 in which Member G L M Lewis made the following statement:

"The Liquor Board remains an unholy mess, my colleague, Member Labuschagne, will be saying more about this later. Like Blue IQ, the Liquor Board has failed yet again to get a clean audit opinion. Blue IQ, which is the agency used to hide the Alex Mafia's dodgy motorsports and other schemes, has been tidied up a bit. Now it would be best just to divide it up amongst the three bodies- the new bodies and try and delete its past".

1.3  EXTRACTS FROM ARTICLES BY MEMBER J B BLOOM RELATING TO SIMILAR COMMENTS ON "ALEX MAFIA"

"For ease of reference I refer you to the Mail & Guardian Newspaper dated 10 May 2010 in which Mr J B Bloom made the similar statements :

"It reflects badly on the ANC that Mr Mashatile is re-elected despite his poor governance record and all the fishy tenders awarded to his network of friends in the so-called 'Alex Mafia'," DA spokesperson Jack Bloom said in a statement..................". and

The Business Day Newspaper dated 26 February 2010 also published the following statement :

"The African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng defended its chairman, Paul Mashatile, when the Democratic Alliance suggested Premier Nomvula Mokonyane should dismantle the "Alex Mafia network" in the province.

During the debate on the state of the province address yesterday, ANC legislator Hope Papo jumped to Mashatile's defence after the DA's Jack Bloom urged Mokonyane to investigate and lay charges against people with links to the "Alex Mafia".

Papo told the legislature the DA had to stop associating the term "Alex Mafia" with the ANC.

"As the ANC we cannot accept this term. If it is used by irresponsible journalists it cannot be used by this house."

Papo said the word mafia was linked to criminal activity and it was wrong to associate Mashatile with it. "To call the former premier ... someone involved in criminal activity is not correct," a livid Papo said. "It is not reality that comrades who come from Alex are criminals.

 The term was first used in the days of ANC stalwarts Joe Modise and Alfred Nzo, who were from Alexandra township and were considered to be "untouchable"........."

1.4 RULINGS MADE BY PREVIOUS PRESIDING OFFICERS:

Several rulings have been made with regard to statements made by Members that would cast aspersions or make allegations on Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature or their Party's as well as statements that would be considered as unparliamentary.

In a Ruling made in the sitting of 3 April 2001, the previous Speaker made the following ruling:

"The privilege of freedom of speech exists to encourage members to speak freely on all issues, without fear of civil litigation, where this is in the public interest.

The privilege is abused where statements are made in reckless disregard as to whether they are true or not."

The Speaker then ruled that:

"Where such statements have been made in the House this should be acknowledged immediately and unconditionally withdrawn when asked to do so by the Presiding Officer."

1.5 PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE WITH REGARD TO UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE

Members have freedom of speech in the House and as a necessary corollary to this privilege; they are immune from proceedings in any court, civil or criminal for anything said on the floor of the House.  However, a Member while speaking is not to make personal reference by way of making allegations, imputing a motive to or questioning the bona fide  of any other member of the House/Party unless it be imperatively necessary for the purpose of the debate being itself a matter in issue or relevant thereto.

1.6 RULING

In light of the above, I wish to indicate as follows:

(i)     The matter before the House is with regard to the utterances of Member Lewis during debate whereby he referred to the Blue IQ being an agency for the Alex Mafia. In this ruling I will not be dealing with utterances that were made in newspapers by Members of this House but rather with the utterances that arose during the debate in the House.

(ii)    The reference to the word mafia as elaborated in the Oxford Dictionary means that when Member Lewis referred to Blue IQ as an agency used to hide the Alex Mafia dodgy motorsports and schemes Member Lewis was linking Blue IQ to a secret criminal organization involved in international drug-dealing, racketeering, gambling, and prostitution. There is no factual basis for associating Blue IQ with such an organisation.

(iii)   The privilege of freedom of speech should not be used by Members of this House to make wild statements or insinuations that affect the level of debate in the House.

1.7 I therefore rule that:

(i) using newspaper articles to cast aspersions on the character of members is wrong and should not be used as a statement of fact in the House. The Gauteng Provincial Legislature has put in place a mechanism whereby members can have any matter where members suspect that there has been a breach of the Code of Conduct and Ethics can be investigated further through the Office of the Integrity Commissioner;

(ii)    no allegation of defamatory or incriminatory nature can be made by any Member against MEC's, an organisation for which an MEC is responsible for, Members or Party's, unless a Member is able to provide the Speaker with substantial factual evidence together with prima facie proof of the authenticity of such evidence; and

(iii)   should such statements be made in the House in the future a Member will be required to withdraw such statements or reference and such references will be expunged from the records of the Legislature.

Issued by the Gauteng Legislature, December 8 2010

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