EFF leader Julius Malema on the podium on Tuesday, at the Cape Town City Hall, during the debate on the 2023 State of the Nation Address (Sona). Picture: Twitter/ @ParliamentofRSA
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says his party has submitted a motion of no confidence in National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
This follows the chaos that erupted in Parliament last Thursday, when EFF Members of Parliament (MPs) were forcibly removed by heavily armed police and parliamentary protection services officers during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).
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“The misconduct of the Speaker on 9 February 2023, has disqualified her as a legitimate Speaker of Parliament. The Speaker referred to members of this house as animals and violated the Constitution and the Rules of the National Assembly when she allowed armed police to invade Parliament.
“As a result, we have already submitted a motion of no confidence against Mrs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,” said Malema.
The EFF leader made the announcement on Tuesday, at the Cape Town City Hall, during the debate on last week’s Sona.
Malema said the red berets had also withdrawn their demand for Mapisa-Nqakula to apologise within 48 hours for ejecting EFF MPs from the Sona, or they would take the matter to the Constitutional Court.
“We also apologise for having shown her respect when she evidently does not respect Parliament,” he said.
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Malema said it was the responsibility of the Speaker to make sure that MPs exercised their oversight over the executive without any fear or intimidation.
“The police must never be allowed inside the chamber because that is where the executive is held accountable and those who are in power, if they do not have answers, may be tempted to use the security forces to intimidate those who are holding them accountable.”
On the EFF’s parliamentarians’ decision to storm the stage where Ramaphosa was sitting, Malema said he had known the president for a very long time and “under no circumstances will he ever be threatened by me or can he feel that his life is under threat”.
“There is no need for you to behave like you can protect him against the people who sit with him in the chamber and he does so without even having bodyguards and without being intimidated.
“The president himself said when he was playing golf the following day [Friday], that he never felt intimidated neither was he scared when he was in this Parliament,” he said.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mathopo said Mapisa-Nqakula had referred the EFF’s disruptions during the Sona to its Joint Rules Committee.
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