Venue unavailability delays Mapisa-Nqakula no-confidence motion

The EFF’s no-confidence debate against National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will be delayed until March 22 due to an unavailability of venues for a full sitting of the house.

National Assembly secretary Masibulele Xaso told its programming committee on Thursday a venue could not be found for March 7, the scheduled date for the debate.

“We are able to secure the Cape Town City Hall for March 22 for a full physical sitting,” said Xaso.

The EFF wanted an in-person sitting, at which MPs would vote secretly. Its request was granted, but Mapisa-Nqakula’s deputy, Lechesa Tsenoli, ruled that MPs would vote openly by roll-call, as they did when they voted on the independent panel’s report against President Cyril Ramaphosa regarding the Phala Phala matter.

In making his decision, Tsenoli relied on section 59 of the constitution, which states: “The National Assembly must ... conduct its business in an open manner and hold its sittings, and those of its committees, in public, but reasonable measures may be taken.”

All parties except the EFF welcomed this, with MPs saying a two-week delay would make little difference. However, EFF MPs argued the matter was urgent and demanded parliamentary staff seek other venues instead of relying on the city hall.

Parliament has previously said it does not pay to use the venue, but does fork out for technical equipment and facilities used for live transmissions.

EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu said it was disingenuous to say there was no difference between March 7 and 22.

“It is problematic for parliament to want to take political decisions based on logistical issues,” he said, adding that parliament had an obligation to have spaces where it could gather all members to take decisions. 

EFF leader Julius Malema tabled a motion of no confidence in Mapisa-Nqakula, accusing her of being irresponsible and acting unconstitutionally on February 9 when armed police entered the chamber to remove EFF MPs who stormed the stage on which Ramaphosa was delivering his state of the nation address (Sona).

Malema accused Mapisa-Nqakula of failing to act “fairly and impartially”, saying she “conducted herself in an irresponsible, unconstitutional and unacceptable manner when she called members of the security services to enter the chamber and remove MPs for carrying out their constitutional mandate”.

He said the speaker disregarded the constitution, which grants MPs the right to free expression, when “she wanted to suppress MPs for raising points of order as permitted by the rules of the National Assembly”.

“The speaker failed to follow the procedure outlined in the rules for removing MPs from the chamber, instead relying on her biases and [e]motions, which resulted in shameful violence against MPs,” said Malema.

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