Deputy Higher Education Minister Mduduzi Manana has apologised for saying “voetsek” in the National Assembly.
The minister had said “voetsek” to the Democratic Alliance caucus during a heated debate following the State of the Nation Address in Parliament.
Manana on Tuesday apologised to the DA leader Mmusi Maimane, calling him a brother and colleague, and his caucus, to the National Assembly, the presiding officers and other MPs.
Explaining himself to the House, Manana said he had uttered the word at the height of turmoil.
“Parliament should remain a festival of ideas... it is for this reason that I wish to retract the word,” he said.
He also apologised for not withdrawing the word when he had been asked to do so by the presiding officer at the time.
Rubbish, factions parliamentary
Speaker Baleka Mbete also addressed some of the rulings made in the joint sitting during the SONA debate.
Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota had been called to order for referring to factions in his speech, while DA chief whip John Steenhuisen was ordered to leave for saying a presiding officer was speaking rubbish.
Mbete said factions and rubbish were not in the list of words declared unparliamentary.
She said regarding “rubbish”, the tone and context in which the word was used had to be taken into account.
Source: News 24
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 