Speaker’s shameful disregard for the law

What a shamefully embarrassing State of the Nation address! One will have to question if indeed the chaos we witnessed on Thursday night by those elected to govern is in fact a true picture of the state of our nation. What is most disturbing however is not the unruly and unparliamentarily behaviour of certain members of Parliament though absolutely unacceptable, but rather what is disturbing is the lack of control and governance and the abuse of authority demonstrated by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs. Baleka Mbete.
No doubt the role of the Speaker is a challenging one but what must be understood and agreed upon is that those elected into positions of office are in no way exempt from abiding by the laws they have been elected to uphold.
Deciding to end and not hear any further points of order from being raised even though Parliament rules allow it during joint sittings is a direct violation and abuse of power. Permitting armed SAPS officers to enter into the Chamber is a blatant and vexatious disregard by Mrs. Mbete for correct parliamentary procedures, rules and conventions. She further amplified her inability to maintain control and demonstrate accurate governance by being evasive in providing an answer to the simple question put to her regarding the presence of the SAPS in chambers. This was a clear indication of her avoiding her serious misjudgement and breach of the Constitution.
Her function as the Speaker requires that she act impartially and protects the rights of all parties but it was clear that she is indeed biased and seeks to protect only the President by abusing her power to shut down any form of opposition against the President.
Her actions have compromised the integrity of our Parliament and have largely contributed to degenerating it into a circus show. She must be held accountable for rendering ungovernable what is meant to be a reputable and esteemed institution of our democracy. The speaker is governed by rules conventions and precedents and we cannot accept or allow for our leaders to operate above the law!
LEANN PETERS
KwaDukuza