Cattle are being stolen

FOR a number of days now, we have been told of how disruptive, rude and silly EFF MPs have become and how they need to be taught who is in charge after they had the nerve to ask President Jacob Zuma some uncomfortable questions and were also “undermining the decorum” of the National Assembly.

In his article “Country must unite to defeat EFF’s thuggery” (DD, February 18) Eastern Cape SACP executive committee member Mawethu Rune takes this further by claiming that the country should join together in a fight against the EFF. He claims they disrupted the Sona, disobeyed the rules of parliament and were rowdy rascals who deserved to be kicked out.

I hold no brief for the EFF, in fact I am a member of the ANC (now in the Johannesburg region). But it is important that, as credible members of the ANC, we add our voices to what has been happening.

Rune’s tone suggests that he does not differentiate between the meaning of simply being a member of the EFF and being a member of parliament. The point is that once voted into parliament, and while the house is in session, all MPs are actually acting as representatives of the people of South Africa and are discharging this duty in terms of the Constitution, relevant laws and of course the rules of parliament.

So is it correct to say that the conduct of the MPs was disruptive and rowdy? And if so, does that conduct pose the threat to our democracy that is alleged?

The answer has to be a resounding no! All MPs have a right and a responsibility to hold the executive to account, admittedly, within the applicable laws and rules.

The rules of parliament provide that if a point of order is raised or if a question of privilege is raised, the speaker of parliament must make a ruling on whether she will allow it or not. If she does, then the point of order or question of privilege may be put forward. If she rules against it, then the MP raising the point of order must sit down.

During the Sona, the speaker did not rule on the question of privilege. Instead, she offered a pre-written response which did not deal with the issue at hand. That is why the house degenerated into chaos.

As a society, we must be worried that those elected to parliament are seemingly not able to do their jobs competently as was evidenced by what happened in the Sona.

Rune has not pointed to a single one of the rules he alleges were broken by the MPs nor does he clarify how he arrived at the conclusion that they were disruptive.

As a defender of democracy, Rune curiously fails to deal with the issue of police officers who were disguised as waiters who entered parliament to violently eject elected MPs. He also does not deal with the jamming of the signal by the Department of State Security (as we have come to know happened).

Both these incidents were a direct violation of the Constitution, in particular the separation of powers doctrine. This effectively meant that the executive was running the show for the legislature, which is in fact supposed to hold the executive accountable on behalf of the people.

This is what the people of South Africa should fight against, the violation of the Constitution by the executive with the consent of the legislative arm.

This is what will lead us to a state of anarchy because our people will lose faith in the democratic system.

By their own admission, the presiding officers of parliament “did not know” who the armed men in white shirts were, yet these men were able to get into our parliament while it was in session and assault MPs while everybody looked on. Is this not something the country should be outraged about?

ANC members must begin to demand more from their leaders and elected representatives. Like the rest of the country, ANC members must be preoccupied with wanting to know when the president will comply with the Public Protector’s findings on his residential upgrades.

If we fail to do this, we will legitimise the DAs and EFFs of this world. We must never allow the ANC to be used for petty individual and factional interests while we stand by and do nothing.

ANC members must say that the abuse of parliament processes, public office and public resources will not be done in our name!

The people of South Africa know what the ANC is about, however, if we remain silent when it is being abused to serve the interest of a few, people will think the ANC has changed from what it used to be.

While I do not support anarchy and vulgarity, I think efforts to hold the executive accountable must be encouraged and praised, irrespective of which corner they come from.

“The only requirement for evil to prevail is for good men to keep silent”. Marikana, Nkandla, Guptagate and many other scandals have happened because the good men in our society and especially in the ANC have kept quiet. Zemk’inkomo magwala ndini (Wake up, the cows are being stolen while you people are sitting doing nothing)! —

Fanele Sicwetsha is an ANC member but writes in his personal capacity