MBOMBELA – The new members of the provincial legislature (MPs) were sworn in here on Wednesday morning, to coincide with the swearing in of the country’s fifth democratically elected national assembly.
The 30 members were sworn in by deputy judge president of the North and South Gauteng High Courts, Mr Aubrey Phago Ledwaba before electing the premier, speaker and deputy speaker. Judging by the grumbling all round, many believed the procedure should have comprised the straightforward election of the majority ANC candidates for the positions. Instead, MPs were forced to put all three to a vote.
View a gallery of the MPLs here.
Amid chunter in the gallery and comments on the floor of, “Why are they trying to stall the process?” and “They are wasting our time”, the DA, which won three seats in legislature, nominated one of its own for each of the positions.
This forced the members to vote for the candidates put forward. In each case they seemed to do so along party lines, with 24 going for the ANC nominees (with the exception of the position of deputy speaker for which the by-then newly elected Shongwe recused herself), three for the DA and three abstentions, correlating with the number of seats held by new opposition parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Bushbuckridge Residents Association (BRA).
Mr David Mabuza was duly elected premier with Ms Thandi Shongwe, former chief whip being elected speaker and provincial party deputy chairman, Mr David Dube, deputy speaker.
Mr Anthony Benadie, DA party leader explained their nominations were a principled decision not to have Mabuza re-elected as premier unopposed, since the constitution prescribed that individuals had to be elected into the positions by legislature, not appointed by a party.
“If we didn’t put someone up, we would have condoned Mabuza as premier and there is no way we could be seen to endorse his premiership candidacy. It was also the first time we were big enough to propose and second candidates on our own. Forcing legislature to have an election gave us an opportunity not to vote for the ANC. We gave life to the spirit of the constitution we had all just sworn to uphold.”
If people were bored by the process, the assembly seemed desperate for entertainment, laughing when some MPs started walking back to their seats without handing their oaths in after reading them. In these they swore to protect the constitution and perform their duties to the best of their abilities in a language of their choice, ending with either “So help me God” or “I do”. Former MEC for human settlements, Mr Andries Gamede duly ended his nomination of Shongwe as speaker with an accidental “So help me God”.
The EFF also did not disappoint, with its representatives Mr Collen Sedibe wearing red overalls and a hard hat, and Ms Ayanda Tshabalala wearing a red domestic-worker’s uniform. Sedibe removed his hat to take the oath, but upon returning to his seat replaced it, at which point Ledwaba asked that he remove it out of respect for the house.
The new speaker thanked the party for its confidence in giving her the position, while Mabuza thanked the party and electorate for putting their trust in him to lead for another term. “We have heard your voices out there as we were campaigning, you gave us your challenges and concerns and as we start our business here all this will be in our minds.”
Both forgot the judge’s title, calling him “acting judge Ledwaba”. He was forced to correct the politicians. “I am not acting, I’m doing my work.”
