Send in the cops, says Mantashe

If ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had had his way, the police would have been sent into the National Assembly on Thursday to deal with the Economic Freedom Fighters MPs who defied speaker Baleka Mbete in refusing to leave the chamber.

"Yebo!" he said when asked yesterday whether the police should have been sent in.

At that stage, only the EFF, the media, a few EFF supporters in the gallery and some parliamentary staff remained, and there were indications that violence would erupt.

The EFF members had rowdily demanded that President Jacob Zuma repay a portion of the R246-million spent on his Nkandla home. They were dissatisfied with his response to Malema's question and Mbete told them to leave the chamber.

"The police should have acted. If you do not act against anarchists, you embolden them," said Mantashe.

He repeated his belief that parliament should be moved to Pretoria because the Western Cape police were under the control of the DA in the province.

The constitution vests control of the police in the national commissioner, who is appointed by the president. The national commissioner appoints the provincial commissioners with the concurrence of the provincial cabinets, and provincial commissioners' functions are subject to the control of the national commissioner.

Western Cape MEC for community safety Dan Plato suggested that Mantashe study the constitution.

"The constitution is very clear. Provincial governments have no operational control over the police and have only an oversight function."

A parliamentary committee set up by Mbete to investigate the conduct of the EFF could recommend harsher rules.

The ANC caucus has called for tough action. ANC MP Jackson Mthembu said that merely suspending people from attending sittings of the house for a few days would not be enough.

In terms of the rules, the harshest sentence the speaker can hand down is a suspension of no longer than 15 days or the loss of half a month's salary.

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said although his party did not condone the EFF's behaviour, Mbete had to shoulder much of the blame for being partisan and allowing inadequate answers to stand.

"We will demand from Mbete and leader of government business Cyril Ramaphosa a mechanism to ensure that the president and cabinet cannot hide behind non-answers," he said.