POLITICAL WEEK AHEAD: Backlash expected after parliamentary row

This article below was published by BDlive:

By Bekezela Phakathi, 17 November 2014, 05:58

Speaker Baleka Mbete responds as opposition parties raise motions prior to a debate on the Nkandla ad hoc committee report on Thursday. Picture: TREVOR SAMSON

LAST week’s fracas in Parliament, which allegedly led to some MPs being assaulted by the police, is likely to dominate political discussion this

week.

Four Democratic Alliance (DA) members at the weekend lodged assault complaints against the police after the unprecedented physical altercation in the National Assembly. Members of the public order policing unit entered the National Assembly chamber on Thursday night, causing a scuffle.

The police were called in after tempers flared on Thursday in Parliament as opposition MPs shouted down Speaker Baleka Mbete. She had tried to prevent them from bringing a number of motions mostly related to the controversial security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, from which Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found him to have improperly benefited.

The Right2Know campaign said at the weekend it would write to the whips of the parties in the National Assembly to ask for a probe into the matter, including why the parliamentary television service was suspended when the scuffle broke out.

The drama within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is set to continue this week amid speculation that disgruntled union bosses are planning to form a federation that will rival Cosatu.

Cosatu expelled its largest affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), last week.

Seven angry affiliates have threatened to withdraw from Cosatu and join Numsa. Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi objected to the expulsion. Cosatu kicked out Numsa largely because it withdrew support for the African National Congress (ANC) saying the ANC-led government’s economic policies are failing the poor.

On Wednesday Cosatu’s central executive committee meeting is scheduled to take place and disciplinary processes against Mr Vavi are expected to be discussed. He could be disciplined after he admitted to having an affair with a married junior employee of Cosatu.

Tuesday Parliament’s communications portfolio committee is scheduled to finally start its inquiry into allegations that South African Broadcasting Corporation board chairwoman Zandile Tshabalala misrepresented her qualifications.

The High Court in Cape Town last week dismissed her application to have the inquiry halted.

On Wednesday the public service and administration committee will be briefed by the Public Service Commission on the success of the anticorruption hotlines. On Thursday MPs will debate the medium-term budget policy statement.

This week the DA in Gauteng will be electing the provincial leadership at their conference in Boksburg. The new leadership is likely to be confirmed by Saturday. John Moodey will face Refiloe Nt’sekhe for the provincial leadership position.

The South African Human Rights Commission will continue its hearings into racism at South African universities on Monday and Tuesday.

The commission began hearings in August in Johannesburg. The purpose is to investigate transformation at SA’s universities, with a primary focus on race relations.