Ex-speaker quits parliament

AXED National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu has resigned from parliament as an ANC MP, just a week after being overlooked for the position  in favour of the party’s national chairman Baleka Mbete.

The office of ANC chief whip Stone Sizani confirmed last night that Sisulu had stepped down,  with spokesman Moloto Mothapo receiving the former’s Speaker’s letter yesterday.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said Sisulu had not provided “substantive reasons” for his stepping down.

Speculation went into overdrive in parliament last week that it  was just a matter of time before Sisulu resigned from the legislature immediately after ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe announced that Sisulu would be replaced with Mbete.

But many were hoping that  he would be appointed in President Jacob Zuma’s new cabinet, which was announced on Sunday,  given his high position on the ANC’s list of candidates to parliament.

Insiders at parliament said Sisulu’s resignation and him being overlooked by the ANC was not surprising given how he presided over the National Assembly since his appointment in 2009.

Most recently Sisulu offended ANC bosses when he established an ad hoc committee to consider Zuma’s reply to the report of  the Public Protector on investigation she had conducted on his Nkandla homestead.

“The ANC wants to dispel an unfounded rumour that comrade Max resigned after he had been summoned to a meeting at the ANC headquarters pertaining an Nkandla investigation,” said Kodwa last night.