Winnie to fight reprimand

2003-03-31 09:34

Cape Town - African National Congress MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will seek an urgent interdict on Tuesday to stop a public reprimand by National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala, pending the outcome of a High Court challenge next month.

"We will serve papers today and will set it down for tomorrow," said Madikizela-Mandela's attorney Votani Majola on Monday.

Ginwala last week advised Madikizela-Mandela that she should be present in the National Assembly at 3pm on Wednesday to be reprimanded for contravening parliament's code of conduct.

This was in line with the National Assembly's resolution of November 2002, which unanimously accepted a recommendation by parliament's ethics committee that ANC MP should be fined half-a-month's salary and be publicly reprimanded by Ginwala.

The committee found Madikizela-Mandela guilty of failing to disclose substantial discounts and business interests in the register of members' interests.

She was the first MP to be found guilty under the code.

However, her attorney claims she was not given a fair opportunity to be heard and has sought a judicial review of the decision.

This is to be heard in the Cape High Court on April 14.

Parliament is opposing the application as it believes Madikizela-Mandela was given ample opportunity to state her case, yet failed to appear before the committee.

- SAPA