The Cape High Court granted ANC MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela an interdict on Tuesday to stop National Assembly speaker, Dr Frene Ginwala, from publicly reprimanding her in Parliament.
The reprimand, recommended by the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests, was to have included the loss of 15 day’s salary, as a sanction.
The African National Congress Women’s League president obtained the interdict after an urgent application launched late on Tuesday afternoon before Cape High Court judge Jerome Ngwenya. Ngwenya suspended the intended reprimand pending the outcome of an action to be launched in the Cape High Court on April 14.
Tuesday’s hearing ended about 7pm, when the judge said the urgency of the matter prevented him giving reasons for his ruling. The respondents in the case — Ginwala, the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests, and Parliament itself — were ordered to pay the costs.
Neither Madikizela-Mandela nor Ginwala were present during the proceedings. The case had been scheduled before Judge Essa Moosa, but he declined it and passed it to Ngwenya. Moosa acted as an attorney for Madikizela-Mandela while she was married to former president Nelson Mandela.
In papers before the court, Madikizela-Mandela alleged Ginwala had ulterior motives in demanding her appearance before the National Assembly. Last week, Ginwala advised Madikizela-Mandela that she should be present in the National Assembly at 3pm on Wednesday to be reprimanded for contravening Parliament’s Code of Conduct.
This was in line with the National Assembly’s resolution of November 2002, which unanimously accepted a recommendation by parliament’s ethics committee that the ANC MP be fined half a month’s salary and be publicly reprimanded by Ginwala.
The committee found Madikizela-Mandela guilty of failing to disclose substantial discounts and business interests in the Register of Members’ Interests. However, in papers before the court on Tuesday, the ANCWL president claimed the intended action against her would cause irreparable harm to her dignity, public image and professional goodwill.
She was currently president of both the ANCWL as well as the Congress of South African Students, and served on the executive committee of the ANC.
The controversy had attracted unprecedented media coverage, which had made a mockery of her, and had caused her distress. Ginwala, in turn, denied the accusations. The speaker said she feared failure on her part to implement the recommendations of the ethics committee might be considered contempt of Parliament, which she was anxious to avoid. – Sapa