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The Democratic Alliance (DA) will move a motion of no confidence in the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, following her assault on the constitutional principle of parliamentary privilege, and her refusal to abide by the Rules of the National Assembly.

On Tuesday last week the Democratic Alliance walked out of the Reply to the Debate on the State of the Nation in protest at the Deputy Speaker's complete disregard for both the Rules of the National Assembly and section 58 of the Constitution, which affords members of parliament freedom of the speech in the Assembly.

The Deputy Speaker broke the rules on two occasions. First, she made an unfathomable ruling on the following statement by the Hon. Mluleki George MP (COPE):

"It appears that the nation is being deliberately led to lawlessness, with absolutely no morals and respect for its people." (Unrevised Hansard, National Assembly, Monday 15 February 2010)

The Deputy Speaker ruled that the Hon. George's statement "creates the impression that the President or his government is inciting lawlessness" and that it constituted "... a serious allegation" and thus, that "the remark made by Hon. George that ‘the nation is deliberately led to lawlessness' is out of order and I must therefore ask Hon. George to withdraw his remark" (Unrevised Hansard, National Assembly, Tuesday 16 February 2010)

The Hon. George's quite clearly expressed an opinion, rather than making an allegation - an inconvenient fact that the Deputy Speaker gets around by leaving out the words "it appears that" from her quotation. It is not the business of this Parliament to regulate personal opinion, and clearly no rule of the National Assembly, 66 or otherwise, can be invoked to place restrictions on this prerogative. The beliefs of every member of the House are their Constitutional and democratic right.

The Deputy Speaker then breached a second set of rules. Rules 72 and 70 of the National Assembly Rules state, respectively:

"A member may speak (a) when called upon to do so by the presiding officer; or (b) to a point of order."

And:

"When a point of order is raised, the member called to order shall resume his or her seat, and after the point of order has been stated to the presiding officer by the member raising it, the presiding officer shall give his or her ruling or decision thereon, either forthwith or subsequently"

The Deputy Speaker breached these rules by refusing to take my point of order:

"The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order!

(No reply from Deputy Speaker)

[...]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm asking you to withdraw the statement.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Dep ...

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm not going to allow any other person to speak on this matter; I'm dealing with hon George now.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I will wait till afterwards, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do rise on a point of order and I shall have that point of order taken.

[...]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Deputy Speaker, I have risen on a point of order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will not take any point of order from anybody on this matter. Order!

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a matter of absolute cardinal importance to this House. It interferes with the right of freedom of speech in the House, and it is not a correct reading of the Rule before you. I must make a point of order in order to motivate exactly why I believe you are wrong. What you are doing is narrowing significantly the whole point of freedom of speech in this House, and it is absolutely unacceptable. I think this matter must be debated further.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There's not going to be any debate.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: It has to be debated further, because you've made a ruling which we cannot and will not accept." (Unrevised Hansard, National Assembly, Tuesday 16 February 2010)

In terms of Rules 70 and 72, a member is entitled to raise points of order, and the Deputy Speaker is obliged to make rulings on them. It is entirely improper for her to state: "I will not take a point of order from anybody on this matter".

As such, we believe the Deputy Speaker's rulings clash with both the Rules of the National Assembly and liberties afforded us by the Constitution. Upon this basis, we will move that the House passes a vote of no confidence in the Deputy Speaker.