TheCable

There was tension at the South African parliament on Thursday, as lawmakers from opposition parties disrupted the plenary sitting.

Baleka Mbete, the speaker, had attempted to bar the opposition from tabling motions relating to the allegations of corruption involving President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma is presently being investigated for allegedly using the sum of $23 million to refurbish his homestead at Nkandla, a community in Natal province, where he was born.

The parliament’s ad hoc committee, which probed the allegation, had given the president a clean bill of health.

But the opposition rejected the report of the committee comprising mainly members of Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC).

Riot police had to be called in during the last time when the Nkandla report was discussed in parliament, as chaos erupted.

However, there was pandemonium on Thursday, as leading opposition legislators forced the speaker to suspend proceedings.

In what appeared to be a loss of control by the speaker, members of Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters disobeyed Mbete’s instruction and asked her to step down.

Mike Waters, deputy chief whip of the Democratic Alliance (DA), was ordered to leave the house for ignoring Mbete’s repeated instructions to take his seat.

Waters refused to leave the chamber, as others also rose at the same time to raise points of order after Mbete made a ruling.

At the same time, MPs in the opposition benches banged on their tables and started chanting “You must go” to Mbete.

Attempts to restore order and also pacify the lawmakers did not yield the desired result.

“I’m amazed by your excitement, I just don’t understand it,” Mbete said.

John Steenhuisen, DA’s chief whip, accused her of breaking the rules of the legislature, demanding that she steps down.

“I would ask with respect that you surrender your chair to the honourable (House chairman Cedric) Frolick. You have lost control of the House for the second time,” Steenhuisen said.

“You have pushed us to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

“You are abusing your powers. I only hope that you are doing this because (African National Congress secretary general) Gwede (Mantashe) told you to.”

Reacting to the development, John Jeffery, the deputy Justice minister of the country, bemoaned the opposition’s conduct, saying “democracy is being undermined by parties representing a fraction of the population”.