The Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister for defence, MP David Maynier, was expelled from Parliament on Thursday after refusing to withdraw and apologise for the statement he made saying Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu had been caught out telling a “big political fib’.”
In his member’s statement delivered in the National Assembly, Maynier said Sisulu had refused to hand over the interim reports of the South African National Defence Force service commission to Parliament.
“One of the many reasons in the minister’s arsenal of excuses was that there was ‘no link’ between the interim reports and the Defence Amendment Bill.
‘There is a link’
“The fact is there is a link between the interim reports and the Defence Amendment Bill,” he said in his member’s statement. “The primary objective of the Defence Amendment Bill was to establish a permanent Defence Force service commission.
A defiant Maynier told Parliament that he had found that the interim report recommended the establishment of a service commission and several pages were devoted to recommendations covering the appointment, terms of reference, functions, staffing and reporting responsibilities of the proposed commission.
Maynier went on to tell Parliament that the “real clincher” was that the interim report contained a draft Defence Amendment Bill.
“How is it possible that an interim report, which contains a draft Defence Amendment Bill, is not linked to the Defence Amendment Bill?,” he said in his statement. “The fact is that the minister has been caught out telling a big political fib to this Parliament. And [the] minister should now take steps to stop the bleeding and hand over the interim reports to this Parliament.”
Speaker Max Sisulu asked him to apologise and withdraw the “fib” sentence, but Maynier said he had refused. He was then escorted from Parliament.
“I’m not exactly sure how long I am expelled for but I think it is a day,” Maynier told the M&G.