OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 9.45am.
THE meeting called by National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala on Friday morning to discuss Thursday’s fisticuffs in Parliament has ended with Ginwala saying she gave all parties a copy of video footage of the fracas and gave them until Monday to decide what action to take.
The meeting, chaired by Ginwala, was attended by National Party MPs Manie Schoeman, Andries Beyers, Daryl Swanepoel, Jaco Maree, Andre Fourie, Sakkie Pretorius and Dirk Bakker, and African National Congress MP Johhny De Lange.
Ginwala said the meeting was just that, and not an inquiry, and that the parties can now determine the “message” they wish to send to the country in the light of upcoming elections. She said it is now up to the combatants to take the matter forward.
Friday 8.30am:
AFRICAN National Congress and National Party parliamentarians got into a fist fight in the National Assembly shortly after the sitting adjourned on Thursday afternoon, resulting in ANC MP Johhny de Lange flooring NP Eastern Cape leader Manie Schoeman.
Assembly Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala, who had left the House when the fight erupted, was called back in to restore order. She ordered Sergeant-at-Arms Godfrey Cleinwerck to take down the names of those involved, and called the combatants to account for themselves in the parliamentary boardroom at 8am on Friday.
The fracas began after heated debate on an ANC draft resolution, during which MPs called each other skelms (scoundrels) and liars. When it became clear that there were not enough ANC members in the House to constitute a quorum, National Party MP Andre Fourie objected to an adjournment, and instead took up a position behind the Speaker’s chair to direct NP latecomers to the gallery so they would not add up to a quorum.
Land Affairs and Agriculture Minister Derek Hanekom then approached Fourie and a heated argument broke out between the two. At a media conference after the affray, De Lange said he heard Fourie shouting at Hanekom: “Ek sal vir jou opfok, fok weg hierso [I’ll fuck you up, fuck off out of here].” De Lange added that at that point, Schoeman approached from his left and punched him in the jaw. He said he reacted instinctively, punching Schoeman to the floor. Video footage from the parliamentary closed-circuit cameras shows Schoeman approach De Lang from the left and punching him, and De Lange instantly retaliating.
De Lange said he was sorry for what happened, but “unfortunately it was instinctive and I don’t have anything to apologise [for] necessarily, except that I think these things … shouldn’t be happening in Parliament”.
ANC chief whip Max Sisulu said De Lange, who is chairman of the justice portfolio committee, might have to be taken to hospital to see if his jaw is cracked. “I, for one, think we must press charges of assault … I do not take kindly to members of the ANC being assaulted,” Sisulu said. De Lange said on Friday that he will lay charges.
Schoeman said he will consult the leaders of his party about the possibility of laying charges. “This amounts to assault,” he said. The NP responded by saying: “The ANC action … is a disgrace to democracy and to Parliament.”
Fourie said the NP has no alternative but to advise Schoeman to lay charges. He said that when the Assembly adjourned, NP MPs were “physically confronted” in their benches by 30 to 40 ANC MPs, including Hanekom, who threatened him in a “very aggressive manner. He used very bad language which I’m not prepared to comment on. I really believe that the ANC action this afternoon is a disgrace to democracy and to Parliament. We must deplore their actions in the strongest possible terms. I can only describe it as mob-rule action and thuggery.”