President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to the Presidency’s budget speech debate was once again disrupted by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), forcing the speaker to suspend the session.
EFF members thrown out of the Natinal Assembly
All the members of the EFF who were present at the National Assembly were thrown out as they repeatedly raised the same points of order. Anthony Matumba, an EFF MP was the first one to be kicked out as he spoke without being recognised by the National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
The disruptions come as the EFF vowed not to allow President Ramaphosa to deliver the budget vote. The party said Ramaphosa should not be allowed to address Parliament after it emerged that $4 million (about R61 million) in cash was stolen at his Limpopo game farm two years ago.
Ramaphosa has come under fire after former spy boss Arthur Fraser spilled the beans and opened a case of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption against the president. Ramaphosa has come under scrutiny with pressure coming from the public for him to tell the truth about the robbery at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
In a statement, the EFF said it “condemned” the behaviour of the speaker Mapisa-Nqakula after she ordered disruptive EFF members to leave the house.
“There was a clear agenda to supress the leadership of what is the only official opposition in Parliament, while other parties stood by silently and allowed a money-launderer and kidnapper to address the nation.”
“There is no rule that allows the Speaker to indefinitely deny members of parliament points of order. It is pure dictatorship, guesswork and partisanship for the Speaker to decide when, where and how the president, in this case Ramaphosa, can be held accountable,” it added.
Source: News24, ENCA, Eyewitness News, The Citizen, image from Twitter