PRESIDING OFFICERS VOW TO UPHOLD CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES AND DIGNITY OF PARLIAMENT
Parliament, Friday 14 November 2014 - National Assembly (NA) Speaker, Ms Baleka Mbete, her deputy, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli, and NA House Chairperson for Committees, Mr Cedric Frolick, hosted a media briefing here today at which they vowed to uphold the Constitutional values and dignity of Parliament.
The briefing followed incidents during the NA plenary sitting on Thursday.
Admitting the events had been disappointing, Ms Mbete said: "Parliament is an institution that is about the people who sent Members here. They, the people, aren't interested in the drama. We came here on the basis that we are open-minded, that we don't all come from the same background but, as with 1994, we must always be ready to listen to the other side." However, there was no way disruption of Parliament's work would be allowed.
The fifth Parliament, established in May 2014, had experienced a trend, started in June, which culminated in yesterday's incidents in the NA. The incidents were pre-determined and no amount of trying, by Presiding Officers, to accommodate Members, no amount of invoking the rules had helped.
"All along we have resisted, in spite of us having a law which gives us the authority to call the police. But we could not sit here and forever allow disruption and outrageous conduct by those who come to push the boundaries and besmirch the name of the institution. What the law allows us finally happened yesterday. Yesterday was the culmination of a long time of trying to appeal, to reason," Ms Mbete said.
The Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act of 2004 says the security services (including the South African Police Service) enter the Parliamentary precinct and perform policing functions there with the permission and under the authority of the NA Speaker or National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Chairperson. However, when there is immediate danger to the life or safety of any person or damage to any property, members of the security services may enter the precinct and take action, without obtaining such permission, in so far as it is necessary to avert that danger.
Reports on the various incidents which occurred on Thursday were expected and analysis of these would determine further courses of action.
Asked whether there was a conflict of interest with her being both NA Speaker and African National Congress National Chairperson, Ms Mbete noted that Mr Mosiuoa Lekota was the ANC's National Chairperson while he was Chairperson of the NCOP. The issue of a conflict of interest had not featured then.
Statement issued by Parliament, November 14 2014
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