Honourable Deputy Speaker,

The decorum of this House, its rules, principles, and conventions are sacred and
paramount. All must adhere thereto, and abide thereby, failing which we will
have nothing short of anarchy in Parliament.

On Thursday 21st August 2014, during questions to the President, and in an
unprecedented manner, all control was lost in this House!

The events and processes that followed clearly indicate multiple failures of
this parliament and its Officers to maintain order and adequately redress and
rule on an incident that should have never occurred in the first place.

The Hon. Malema submitted representations to the committee containing 89 points,
some of which could be described as matters in limine which should have been
dealt with before the hearings proceeded, but the ANC components in the
committee decided in their wisdom, that these in limine submissions would only
be dealt with at the end of the hearing. Equally disturbing is the role played
by the parliamentary legal advisers, who seemed to assume the roles of both
player and referee.

This made it impossible to deal with matters of substance contained in the
document which could have had a material effect on the final outcome.

There is no doubt that the Speaker was the main character in the events that
unfolded on the 21st August 2014.

And moreover, that she is the one who took decisions on the conduct of some of
the honourable members on the day. To the dismay of all presiding Chief Whips,
she is also the one who unilaterally decided to suspend the business of the
house on that day. More importantly, she is the main complainant in this matter.

So we are utterly perplexed, when the ANC component in the Committee strenuously
rejected the proposal that the Speaker be called as a witness. Consequently, we
still do not know what the Speaker inferred by the terms “grave disorder” and
“grossly disorderly” or what her basis or points of reference are that led her
to make such remarks.

We don’t know what process informed her to implicate 20 out of the 25 EFF
members for parliamentary censure. And we are further as speechless as the poor
members of this House were on that fateful day, when they were expressing and
repeatedly prohibited from rising on points of order?

How is this ever possible in democratic and civilised debates? The Speaker’s own
admission that “she lost it” on that day, tacitly speaks volumes to this entire
charade of subsequent disciplinary process!

In conclusion, Deputy Speaker, the IFP does not support this report and further
reiterates for the record, that the IFP holds this House in the highest esteem
and will continue to support all efforts at upholding the dignity of the House
and ensuring that Office of the Speaker is not only respected but also executes
its duties in a free, fair and impartial manner.

I thank you.