Julius Malema and five other EFF MPs will be barred from the State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament next year.
On Wednesday, the powers and privileges committee imposed suspension for a month without remuneration from February 1 to 29 on Malema, Floyd Shivambu, Marshall Dlamini, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, Vuyani Pambo and Sinawo Thambo for disrupting Sona earlier this year.
The committee also wants Malema and the fellow MPs to apologise to Parliament, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, President Cyril Ramaphosa and South Africans.
The sanctions were imposed despite Malema submitting a joint written representation pleading that they be found not guilty. This was a sequel to a letter their lawyers wrote to the committee indicating they would submit before the end of business on Tuesday after they walked out of the hearing on Monday.
Their submission came a day after the initiator of the hearing, advocate Anton Katz, made closing arguments and recommended sanction.
In their submission, Malema said they were engaged in peaceful protest and violence from Mapisa-Nqakula.
“Some of the members who assaulted EFF members carried guns on them,” he said.
Malema also said no case was made out that their conduct amounted to misconduct as per the charges: “No case was made out about the threats experienced by the Speaker, the chairperson of the National Council of Province and the President; and no case was made out that there has been a breach of the Rules.”
Katz said the committee had refused the request to consider their written submission and the committee went further to make a guilty finding.
“We submit that once the committee makes a decision, it is the end of the matter of the question of guilt or innocence.
“It was too late to come around and say we should not be guilty for this or other reason,” he said.
He charged that their submission had no merit. Committee chairperson Violet Siwela said the affected members had said during the walkout that the hearing was a kangaroo court and instructed their attorneys to withdraw.
“They might have forgotten what happened on Monday,” Siwela said. DA MP Annelie Lotriet said the letter should not be entertained and that they were due to discuss the sanctions to be imposed.
“I would also say in a way entertaining the letter would be unprocedural and go as far as saying it would be irregular.
“They decided to walk out,” she said.
The ANC deputy chief whip echoed the sentiments of Lotriet and Siwela.
“We are not going back. We passed that stage. We are here to make a decision in their absence. They elected to leave the hearing, calling it all sorts of names,” Doris Dlakude said. She also said a person who was supposed to be in a meeting could not dictate to those that remained.
“The people sitting in this meeting have their own minds, parliamentary legal advisers and the initiator,” Dlakude added.
During the discussion on the sanctions to be imposed, MPs said they could not turn a blind eye on the serious disruption that took place at Sona 2023 and what it did to the image of Parliament, Ramaphosa and Mapisa-Nqakula’s authority.
Cape Times