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We are being asked to remove the Speaker of this House because she did not oppose the President’s High Court review application and instead chose to abide in the face of the Impeachment Committee choosing to oppose.

The Speaker initiated the formation of the Impeachment Committee specifically to handle all business pertaining to impeachment. What the Committee says about any development in this process must be handled entirely by the Committee without the Speaker weighing in with unsolicited opinions. Direct interventions by the Speaker are, in any event, undesirable unless it is to ensure that the Rules of Parliament are adhered to.

In this case, the Committee decided to oppose the review application. The Speaker has zero role in that decision. Inviting her to start pondering what position should be taken on this matter suffers from a fatal internal contradiction. What if in future, the Speaker decides to oppose in court the Committee’s position? After all, litigation decisions are not supposed to be mindless – such as defending or opposing a position simply because the loudest voices say so. 

Therefore, inviting the Speaker to get involved in this matter when Parliament has chosen a committee of competent MPs to represent it, makes no sense. It doesn’t need a meddlesome speaker whose opinion may one day differ with that of the Committee and create a bigger constitutional crisis. This, and future Speakers must let the Committee handle its business and limit their roles to providing the tools and resources for the Committee to do the work it has been mandated to do, including opposing review applications. Honourable Didiza has dutifully met this obligation.

It is also notable that in his initial input, not once did Honourable Malema attribute any of the failures to hold the President accountable to Honourable Didiza. He referred to previous Speakers of the House. 

A motion such as this is a judgment call on an individual, and it makes no sense to ask this House to pass judgment on one individual based on the failures of another. That is, frankly, devoid of logic. 

It is also worth noting that no one complained when the Speaker dutifully passed on every correspondence from the President to the Committee for its response, and its response alone, prior to this application. The very decision to not accommodate the President’s initial request was the Committee’s, and its decision alone. None of the parties who are complaining today and want us to remove the Speaker had a problem with it because they knew then, as they know now, that her opinions were not needed. 

RISE Mzansi supports the work and authority of the Committee to drive the impeachment process and rejects this Motion. The Speaker must stay put. We reject this Motion.

Issued by RISE Mzansi National leader Songezo Zibi