Celani Sikhakhane
There was chaos in Parliament on Thursday when EFF members refused President Cyril Ramaphosa a chance to address the house.
EFF members had to be kicked out of the session after they called Ramaphosa a thief and a criminal and accused him of money laundering because of the Phala Phala farmgate scandal.
They even brought up the Marikana Massacre of 2012 when dozens of striking Lonmin miners were killed by police. Ramaphosa was a Lonmin shareholder and a non-executive board member at the time.
EFF’s Ntombovuyo Veronica Mente angered the ANC bench when she said they won’t debate anything from Ramaphosa because he is a thief.
House chair Grace Boroto, presiding over the parliamentary sitting, had her hands full trying to control members of her party and those of the EFF. She told Mente to withdraw her accusation but Mente refused.
These utterances led to some EFF members being forced out of the house and others muted.
The disruption delayed Ramaphosa’s budget vote by an hour.
Earlier in the day Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula told the house that she wouldn’t allow any point of order but the EFF continued to disrupt proceedings, which led the parliamentary security personnel to kick them out.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said it is a disgrace that Ramaphosa kept quiet about the crime that took place at his house in 2020 and that he did not even report the alleged $4 million that was stolen to the police.
Steenhuisen said that they need to know who paid for the police to go to Namibia to arrest those who were implicated.
“Mr President needs to come clean on this matter and give confidence to the people of South Africa. If you ignore this it will mean you will never learn from your predecessor on Nkandla, where people defended the swimming pool as a fire pool,” said Steenhuisen.
United Democratic Movement leader General Bantu Holomisa has written a letter to the Speaker to try and initiate a meeting between Ramaphosa and opposition parties.
