Highs and lows: Beleka Mbete has survived five challenging years as speaker of the National Assembly. (David Harrison)
The final sitting of the National Assembly has set the tone for a bruising six-week battle for political parties ahead of the May 8 general elections.
Farewell speeches by MPs are usually collegial, amicable and generally sentimental about the five years shared on the benches of the chamber and in parliamentary committees.
There was all that on Wednesday, but the usual bonhomie was dampened by the sombre news of the suicide of ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu’s daughter, Khwezi, and, unusually, there was some political point-scoring.
Also, political party leaders were absent from the debate because it clashed with the Independent Electoral Commission’s code of conduct signing ceremony in Randburg on Wednesday.
National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete opened the farewell debate by sending condolences to Mthembu and his family. She also congratulated MPs for doing their work despite robust and sometimes violent sittings in the House. “We’ve had highs, we’ve also have had lows. The point is we have survived,” she said.
Mbete has had a tough five years as speaker, having to deal with 25 rowdy Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs. There were motions of no confidence in her, first because she was ANC national chairperson at the time of her election and then there were the allegations that she protected then-president Jacob Zuma from scrutiny for alleged corruption.
“We’ve had to work together on behalf of our people. So it didn’t matter where we came from. But we were here at the behest of our people that expect, collectively, that we will deliver to our country,” Mbete said.
She said first on the next Parliament’s to-do list should be to revisit rules governing the conduct of MPs in the house, joking that the EFF’s hard hats may be unparliamentary. The red berets have often used their makarapas as missiles while being removed from the house by Parliament’s bouncers.
Veteran African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley announced she would be retiring. She has served for 20 years on her party’s benches. Dudley made history in 2017 when she became the first MP to have a Private Member’s Bill passed. It dealt with legislating paid paternity leave for fathers.
She thanked Mbete for being an example to all women in the legislature.“Unlike me, competing in a man’s world by playing down who I was, Speaker Mbete, by contrast, embraced being a female in every detail. I was first alarmed, but eager to try it. Nothing short of revolutionary,” she said.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s Narend Singh used the opportunity to campaign, saying the ANC’s record over the past five years has seen the country worse off than before MPs were sworn in in 2014. “It’s now up to the voters, who are the final democratic check and balance in any democracy, to decide if they want more of the same or a new and better story for the future for this country,” he said.
The EFF’s Nazier Paulsen offered an olive branch to MPs of other parties. He has had verbal battles and sometimes came to the House wearing mixed martial arts gloves. He once nearly came to blows with Agang’s Andries Tlouamma and they had to be separated by colleagues.
“Although we may have disagreed robustly, we must not forget that someone you are disagreeing with is someone’s mother, father, brother or sister. We must never dehumanise each other. We have failed. And I humbly apologise,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance’s chief whip John Steenhuisen said his highlight of the past five years was seeing the back of Zuma.
“We saw off a president. As we know the DA put forward eight motions of no confidence before it became fashionable to do so. But nonetheless, the highlight for me was the day in which we closed the chapter on the Zuma era, and started a new chapter for our country.”
He thanked MPs from other parties for robust debate and often inventive heckles across the aisle.
MPs are now free from parliamentary work and will canvass support for their parties ahead of the elections, though, according to the Constitution, the National Assembly “remains competent to function … until the day before the first day of polling for the next Assembly”.
After the elections, the National Assembly must meet within 14 days of the results being declared.
New MPs will take the oath of office and elect a new speaker, deputy speaker and president of the republic.