Parliament welcomes court decision on Floyd Shivambu’s deducted salary

Parliament on Friday welcomed the Western Cape High Court’s decision to strike off the roll EFF member Floyd Shivambu’s urgent application to set aside the decision to deduct nine days’ salary from him.

Shivambu approached the court after the Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests decided to dock his pay after finding he failed to disclose the R180 000 he received from Sgameka Projects in 2017.

Sgameka Projects was implicated in the looting of VBS Mutual Bank. The company is owned by Shivambu’s brother, Brian.

ALSO READ: Parliament resolves to suspend Dipuo Peters, EFF’s Floyd Shivambu docked nine days salary

Payments made to EFF’s Shivambu

After the VBS liquidators revealed details of the payments to Shivambu, the EFF stated that they were donations to the party.

Shivambu received the amount in three payments – R100 000 on 18 August 2017, R30 000 on 24 August 2017, and R50 000 on 26 August 2017.

Shivambu argued that the investigation against him was unfair as he did not know what allegations he was facing before Parliament’s decision was made.

“He stated that the payments made to him were not gifts but were from his brother and the Ethics Code excludes gifts from family members from the categories of gifts that should be disclosed,” Parliament said on Friday.

The EFF deputy president also argued that the matter was urgent because parliament’s report could count against the EFF in the elections later this year.

ALSO READ: Shivambu heads to court over ‘undisclosed R180k VBS payment’

Parliament said the court found Shivambu’s submission that his political party will be disadvantaged to be “unsustainable and lacking validity” as the EFF is not involved in the case.

The court dismissed Shivambu’s claim of urgency because he only filed his application in December,  despite the Ethics Committee’s decision being made in June.

He was also ordered to pay the costs of the application.

EFF MPs barred from Sona

Earlier this week, the Western Cape High Court also struck off the roll the EFF’s application to overturn the suspension of its MPs who disrupted last year’s state of the nation address. 

EFF leader Julius Malema, Shivambu, EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, Vuyani Pambo, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and the party’s spokesperson Sinawo Thambo will all miss the 2024 Sona on Thursday, 8 February.

Parliament’s Powers and Privileges Committee in November ordered their suspension.

The EFF MPs were also ordered to apologise to President Cyril Ramaphosa, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Parliament and the public for disrupting the 2023 Sona.

The EFF members will also have one month’s salary docked in February.

ALSO READ: ‘Politically motivated’ – EFF slams ‘draconian decision’ to suspend leaders from parliament