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An hour into what should have been a debate of a motion to remove President Jacob Zuma, political party whips were instead in a meeting to break a stalemate over whether National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete should recuse herself for the day.
After Mbete took her seat at 2pm today and a short prayer and meditation by MPs, even before the first item was read out, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ chief whip Floyd Shivambu requested that Mbete recuse herself as the presiding officer over the Democratic Alliance’s motion to remove Zuma.
Shivambu, rising on a point of order, said: “You must recuse yourself as the presiding officer today because the Constitutional Court has found against you in terms of the EFF court case – that you have violated the Constitution, that you have disregarded the laws of this Parliament and yet you are sitting there. You don’t deserve to be in that seat because you are not supposed to be presiding officer here.
“Anything that you do is illegal. I stand to propose that a different presiding officer takes over that seat so that we can have a rational and fair Parliament today,” said Shivambu.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu, rising to defend Mbete, argued that the Constitution was “very clear” and with regards to recusal, there was “no such thing” in the Constitution.
“If any party wants to raise any motion against the speaker, there is a process to raise that motion,” he said.
“We would then direct the EFF to please not disregard the Constitution of South Africa”.
Steenhuisen said in terms of rule 15 of the National Assembly – which deals with the relief of the speaker and which calls for the deputy speaker to take the chair when requested to do so by the speaker – the speaker was required to act fairly and impartially and to ensure that the rights of all parties, including minority parties, were protected in all his or her actions. The speaker must uphold the dignity and good name of the house.
Steenhuisen said Mbete, as the first respondent in the Constitutional Court matter, was “party to the crime” that took place.
He asked her to invoke rule 15 and instruct her deputy to preside over the sitting.
A number of opposition MPs joined the debate, rising on points of order and calling for the speaker to recuse herself.
EFF leader Julius Malema went as far as addressing her by her first name, “Baleka”, saying she was not a speaker and had no right to sit where she was sitting.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula proposed that the matter of the speaker’s recusal be put to a vote. She was supported by Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.
But opposition parties opposed this proposal saying the ANC was “continuing” to misuse its majority to take wrong decisions.
Mbete argued that there was nothing in the Constitutional Assembly that would force her to recuse herself. She said the judgment makes an order relating to the National Assembly and not to herself.
After 31 minutes of toing and froing, Mbete announced a 10-minute adjournment for political party whips to consult. Almost an hour later, the house was yet to reconvene.
At 3.50pm the party whips re-entered the house.
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