A man has been arrested and is being questioned by police after causing a disturbance in the public gallery of the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after proceedings began, the man began shouting at bemused MPs sitting below.
Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu, who was in the chair at the time, repeatedly told the man to stop, but he ignored her and she asked him to leave.
It is not clear what he was shouting about and he was escorted from the gallery by police.
Mahlangu announced later that she had ordered — in terms of the Powers and Privileges of Parliament Act — that the man be taken into custody by the South African Police Service for questioning.
”Once I have a full report from our security services, I will inform the whips accordingly,” she said.
Members of the public have to obtain tickets for the public gallery from Parliament’s visitors’ centre, where their identity documents are checked and their particulars recorded. — Sapa