South Africa

South Africa

Mantashe: ‘When people are abnormal, rules do not apply’

Mantashe: ‘When people are abnormal, rules do not apply’

While the ANC says it's certainly not unconstitutionally trying to get Parliament to protect Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa, the party is fed up with attacks from the opposition. It's time, they say, to look at other ways to communicate with the people. By GREG NICOLSON.

Speaking after the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting over the weekend, Secretary General Gwede Mantashe voiced the party’s anger over the happenings in the fifth Parliament, where the EFF have harangued the president, deputy president and most opposition parties teamed up last week to hold a no confidence vote in Speaker Baleka Mbete.

Addressing media on Monday, Mantashe said there was a right-wing coalition among political parties brought together to attack the ANC. “Their only intention is to derail the revolution and therefore qualifies to be called a counter-revolutionary coalition,” he said.

“To this end the NEC noted the extent to which parliamentary processes have descended into chaos and the unruly offensive on the ANC in Parliament, Parliament itself and on democracy in our country. Hooliganism and insult are at unprecedented levels and are unfortunately being defined as a tool of engagement. The decorum and dignity of Parliament as an institution is being dragged through the mud under the cover of the right to be robust,” read the NEC statement.

“What is robust about showing the middle finger to the deputy president of the country? There is nothing robust about that,” said Mantashe. Last week, EFF Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu stuck his middle finger up at Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa when EFF members were forced to leave the House after refusing to withdraw their comments that Ramaphosa killed people in Marikana.

In the short life of the fifth Parliament, the EFF has staged multiple walk-outs and a sit-in that momentarily had the potential to get violent, using appearances from Zuma and Ramaphosa to steal headlines on the controversies of Nkandla and Marikana. The party’s 25 MPs have also raised the temperature by repeatedly debating points of order and contesting the rules. In response, ANC MPs have launched vitriolic attacks in defence of their leaders.

Monday’s ANC statement continued, “Parliament cannot be a battleground. Its members have been elected by voters and thus carry their hopes and aspirations for progressive and constructive engagement. Debate and responding to questions requires spaces to do so; disruption of the same process is tantamount to an exercise in futility.”

The ANC’s calls to restore the dignity and decorum of the House have drawn criticism. On Sunday, DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said the party “notes with contempt the comments by the ANC’s [NEC] stating that they want Parliament to protect President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa from ‘humiliation and embarrassment’. This confirms the DA’s position that the ANC deployed its Chairperson Baleka Mbete as speaker to undermine the role of Parliament in holding the executive to account. President Zuma was elected by Parliament and is thus accountable to it in terms of Section 92(1) of the Constitution, which states that ‘Members of the Cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions.’”

Last month, Cabinet’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster issued a warning after the EFF staged its “pay back the money” protest. “The justice, crime prevention and security cluster wants to make it clear that the authority of the state shall not be undermined, neither will the authority of Parliament be undermined,” Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said after police were called to Parliament. “Certain measures by the security cluster have been put in place with immediate effect to ensure that never occurs again.”

On Monday, Mantashe took issue with questions about the ANC wanting Parliament to “protect” Zuma and Ramaphosa. Nowhere in the statement from Saturday or Monday’s statement was the word “protect” used, said the secretary general. Mantashe said the ANC is not calling for Parliament to protect the president but for the rules to be applied rigorously and harsh penalties invoked for transgressions. Otherwise the institution will be a joke, he added.

The party, however, seems resigned to the fact that there’s little it can do to rein in the EFF or to shield Zuma or Ramaphosa from being taunted when they visit Parliament. “Unfortunately, rules are meant for normal people. When people are abnormal, rules do not apply,” said Mantashe.

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has accused Mantashe of trying to micromanage Parliament and said the party wouldn’t back down. Next week, the Powers and Privileges Committee is set to begin its inquiry into the behaviour of 20 EFF MPs during Zuma’s question time in the House last month.

Looking at what it sees as the failure of Parliament, the ANC wants the presidency to now try to communicate with citizens outside of the National Assembly. Mantashe said the more Parliament is closed, the less chance there is to talk to citizens, so the ANC wants to also pursue other channels to reach out.

“Even after this unbecoming conduct, the president and the deputy president commit to be[ing] accountable to Parliament. They will, in the exercise of their accountability, also continue to engage the people of South Africa through various other platforms including direct contact with our people such as the recently relaunched Izimbizo forums,” said the ANC on Saturday. In the presidency budget speech in July, Zuma said the presidency would relaunch the Izimbizo programme, using mass campaigns such as door-to-door visits, to open communication between government and the people. The ANC also plans to intensify its Imvuselelo programme, which focuses on building membership, educating members, and building strong grass-roots structures.

The ANC is at its wits’ end over the EFF, and even if it wanted to try to protect Zuma and Ramaphosa from attack, the party is under so much scrutiny it’s unlikely it could get away with subverting the rules without suffering more PR damage. Instead, we might see the president and deputy president effectively beginning a type of election campaign so that the “good story to tell” will trump “pay back the money”. DM

Read more:

  • Protecting Olympus from falling: ANC goes for broke to defend Zuma, in Daily Maverick.

Photo: NC secretary general Gwede Mantashe is seen during a news conference on its NEC meeting and national list conference at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, Tuesday, 28 January 2014. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.