Parliament – A day after he was humiliated by opposition protest in Parliament, President Jacob Zuma on Thursday said the legislature had become a national embarrassment and demanded the Speaker bring it to order.
“As a house I think you need to do more to bring this house to order,” he said by way of closing his reply to the budget vote debate on the presidency.
“I go around Africa and people ask me very embarrassing questions of this parliament… I think it would be seriously important that you bring this house into some order.”
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Zuma added that the message had been underscored by people who could not be in the National Assembly on Thursday, in a session chaired by Speaker Baleka Mbete.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has in the past gone on record as saying that parliamentary officials should do more to “protect” the president from an increasingly vociferous and hostile opposition.
On Wednesday, ANC MPs repeatedly rose to call Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane out of order as he branded Zuma a “thief” intent on robbing the nation to enrich himself. This followed after the Economic Freedom Fighters were thrown out of the chamber for attempting to prevent Zuma from delivering his budget vote speech.
On Thursday, the two main opposition parties were absent for Zuma’s reply to the debate, the DA because it boycotted the speech and the EFF because its members were serving an automatic suspension flowing from their ejection.
Zuma declined to respond to their criticism of him, saying he would confine himself to issues relevant to his office’s budget.
African News Agency
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