New guidelines will see MPs physically removed from Parliament by protection services to prevent the adjourning of proceedings.
Obey the presiding officers — or else — members of Parliament have been told, with the adoption of new rules to deal with disruptions in the National Assembly.
Compiled by the rules committee and with the report accepted in the National Assembly on Thursday, the new guidelines will see MPs physically removed from the Parliamentary precinct by protection services to prevent the adjourning of proceedings due to disruptions. Any member who interferes with the removal of a disruptive MP will be removed as well.
Approved just in time for President Jacob Zuma’s next question session in the House, the rules were first discussed after the head of state’s last appearance in Parliament was disrupted when Economic Freedom Fighters MPs insisted he answer when he would be paying back a portion of the money spent on his Nkandla homestead.
The EFF has been against the process from the beginning, accusing MPs of wanting to protect Zuma from answering for Nkandla.
While the new rules were largely supported by all political parties in Parliament, the EFF made their displeasure known by loudly declaring they did not agree with the physical removal of members for their views.
EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu said the party rejected the rule with contempt.
“The removal of MPs for something they say with their mouths … we do not have a problem with those who are threatening the security of other members of Parliament or of the facilities to be removed physically. But for something that you say with your mouth? No. You can’t remove an elected member of Parliament physically. That is a nonsensical approach that is being asked for us to adopt in this Parliament. We can never agree with that.
“How on earth can we pass legislation that says we must automatically suspend MPs for five, 10 or 20 days [for disruptive behaviour]? What kind of constitutional democracy are we embracing if we are going to do that?”
Shivambu said Parliament was already training people for the positions even before the rules were adopted in the House and asked MPs to reject the rules that would “deprive [them] of the right to speak”.
Deaf ears
Their appeal fell on deaf ears however as party after party declared their support.
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Narend Singh said extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures, while Democratic Alliance chief whip John Steenhuisen reiterated that the freedom of speech of certain MPs could not infringe on others.
“This house cannot function if it simply becomes a chamber where the party that shouts the loudest and drowns out others prevails at the end of the day,” Steenhuisen said.
Introduced by sub-committee chairperson Richard Mdakane, the rules were accepted with 307 votes, with 16 EFF MPs voting against it.
Under the new rules, if a member refuses to leave when instructed to do so by the presiding officer, the Serjeant-at-Arms will be called. If the member still refuses to leave, the speaker will then call the Parliamentary Protection Services. The circumstances of the physical removal of a member will then be referred by the Speaker to a multiparty committee for consideration within 24 hours.
Welcoming the adoption, the office of the ANC chief whip said the unity of the House on this crucial matter sent a message that disruption of the work of Parliament would not be tolerated.
“The public had had the misfortune of witnessing the consequences of the disruptions of the House by few individuals, eroding the dignity of the House, frustrating Parliament’s efforts to hold the executive – including the president – to account and trampling on other MPs’ freedom of speech,” the ANC said in a statement.