Juju snubs disciplinary action

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and his 19 MPs have given ANC MPs carte blanche, challenging them to find them guilty in absentia for disrupting President Jacob Zuma’s reply to questions in August.

Malema and his MPs, who face a litany of charges related to contempt of parliament and the authority of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, yesterday refused to take part in disciplinary proceedings led against them by the institution’s powers and privileges committee.

If found guilty, Malema and his MPs could be suspended from parliament for up to 30 days with no pay, which is the harshest possible sentence in terms of the rules of the legislature.

The EFF parliamentarians argued that the committee amounted to nothing but an ANC kangaroo court and demanded it should charge and call Mbete to appear before it to explain herself for losing her cool when they chanted “pay back the money” in the assembly in August.

Malema and his MPs had been unhappy about how Zuma had responded to his question as to when would he pay back a portion of the money spent on non-security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal. The National Assembly then mandated the powers and privileges committee to institute disciplinary proceedings against the EFF.

When the committee met yesterday, Malema and his MPs tried every trick to frustrate proceedings. In his representations, Malema argued that the committee was “ unconstitutional”.

He said it was unjust for his MPs to be put on trial by a majority of ANC MPs, who are their political opponents.

“The complainant is not only Speaker but a party national chairwoman who on Mondays sits with the President and on Thursday attends the ruling party caucus and on other days presides over house meetings where she is expected to be impartial.

“The complainant is not only Speaker, but sits in the powerful deployment committee about who becomes a whip, a minister and committee chairperson – it will be career limiting for you to differ with her.

“What justice and fairness should the EFF expect in a process where the judge is the ANC, the complainant is the ANC, the witness is the ANC, the prosecutor is the ANC, the house decision-maker is the ANC?

“You may as well hold this hearing at Luthuli House,” said Malema before leading a walkout of his MPs.

But senior ANC MPs hit back by accusing Malema of political grandstanding.

“He can’t come in and make a broad sweeping political statement … grandstanding on political issues and not answering to the charges he’s agreed to,” said ANC MP Richard Mdakane adding the committee would continue with its business without the EFF.

“There’s no member here in parliament who doesn’t belong to a political party, the system is a proportional representation system … for any member to come and grandstand about this is just unfair.”