WATCH: ‘Drunk’ ANC MP says Maimane is considered a ‘moemish’, his defenders ‘moegoes’

ANC MP Jerome Maake made a long, rambling speech in parliament on Thursday that caused several who commented on the YouTube video included in this article to question whether or not the minister was “drunk” – a suggestion probably stemming from the fact that he slurred his words as much as the content of what he said.

Maake was speaking at a debate on a report on the recommendation by Police Minister Bheki Cele that the term of office of Robert McBride, the executive director of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) should not be renewed.

Very little of what he had to say, however, was related to that topic, although he did say that “Ipid is a very important institution in this country,” noting that “it was established by the ANC government” and expressing his view that “it needs to be protected, it needs to remain independent”.

His main point, however, appeared to be that the ANC is an old party, most other parties in parliament today have splintered off from it and the opposition only says what it does about the ANC because it wants to “take over the government”

“ANC is the oldest organisation, it has its own mechanisms for dealing with its own problems and challenges, we are not told what to do by the DA,” he said.

READ MORE: Maimane learns to count with help from ‘Woolies water’

At another point, Maake described the ANC as “overalls. A shirt, a jacket, a trouser and maybe but I’m not very sure, an underwear. This is what the ANC is.”

“Let the opposition leave the ANC, almost every party in this house came from the ANC. PAC, Cope, EFF, AIC, UDM and even the premier of the Western Cape was member of the UDM if I’m not wrong,” he said a little later.

Maake then related a only partly coherent story about talking to a group of elders in a rural area who called DA leader Mmusi Maimane a “moemish” and then called him a “moegoe” when he tried to defend him.

This prompted DA MP Derrick America to rise on a point of order and complain about Maake having called his party’s leader a “moemish and moegoe”, adding that he believed this to be “unparliamentary”.

Maake’s response was to note that he himself didn’t call Maimane those things, he was telling a story about others who had.

“I even said I defended him,” the indignant MP replied to America.

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