EFF MPs accuse parliamentary ‘bouncers’ of sexual harassment

POLITICS 

EFF members of parliament (MP) have accused members of the Parliamentary Protection Services (PPS) of sexually harassing them when removing them from the chamber on Thursday.

National assembly speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, ordered the removal of EFF MPs after they disrupted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s budget vote speech. Among those who were removed were three women MPs.

Friday was much of the same as the previous day as President Cyril Ramaphosa was set to reply to his presidency budget vote.

When chaos broke out following repeated heckling, Mapisa-Nqakula again ordered the removal of EFF MPs from the chamber.

However, EFF MPs refused to be removed by male “bouncers”, alleging that on Thursday they had been touched inappropriately.

EFF chairperson Veronica Mente, who joined the sitting virtually, was one of the first EFF MPs to bring the allegations to the attention of the speaker.

READ: Watch | Parliament descends into chaos again, forcing speaker to suspend proceedings

“Yesterday, men were manhandling honourable Babalwa Mathulelwa,” said Mente.

EFF MP Paulnita Marais said she would not allow a male PPS member to remove her.

“Men are touching our private parts; they are touching us. I will open a case against you,” she said.

“No, never. They will not do that,” responded Mapisa-Nqakula.

“You are a woman, but you are allowing men to touch our private parts. You must be ashamed of yourself,” charged Marais.

Mapisa-Nqakula later said she was not aware of the allegations.

“Thank you very much honourable Marais. You have raised something, important that I was not aware of. I was not aware that parliament’s protection services touched your private parts. As a woman, I will not allow that, but I am appealing to you to leave the house,” she said.

This led to further disruption.

EFF deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, shared his views and said: “Yesterday, you called rascals who are called parliamentary protection services to sexually harass … yesterday you called male security guards to come and harass members of parliament,” said Shivambu.

The exchange between Mapisa-Nqakula and EFF MPs took place while Ramaphosa waited to reply to a debate on his budget vote speech, which he delivered on Thursday.

EFF MP Naledi Chirwa also accused Mapisa-Nqakula of being disingenuous by saying she was not aware that Parliament’s bouncers touched EFF women MPs inappropriately.

READ: ANC in Parliament circles the wagons around beleaguered Ramaphosa

“You have the responsibility to uphold the dignity of this house, and we are conveying a message to you telling you that women EFF MPs yesterday were sexually harassed.

“We are telling you for the first time now and you have ignored these constant calls alerting you as speaker and you are doing it again by ignoring us…,” said Chirwa.

She further accused Mapisa-Nqakula of being “anti-women” by removing only women MPs in the chamber and on the virtual platform.

However, Mapisa-Nqakula refuted the claims. She pointed out that after Marais alerted her to the allegations, she had asked that only women should remove the women MPs from the chamber.

“You are not going to accuse me of allowing the sexual harassment of women. You are wrong,” she told Chirwa.

Chirwa was also asked to leave the chamber for being disruptive.

When a male parliament official approached Chirwa to ask that she leave, Chirwa said: “You are doing it again. You are calling men to come and remove us from this house. Your legacy will be that you allowed gender-based violence to happen to women MPs under your watch.”

EFF MPs fought back as they were forcefully removed.

A video shows Chirwa being choked by a woman officer, while another pulls her hair.

In the video, Chirwa, who looked to be in pain, was seeing lying on the floor.

Following the scuffle, Shivambu told Mapisa-Nqakula that the party had opened a case of assault against her and PPS.

“You are going to be held accountable for calling violence on members of parliament. We are going to take action against you.

“You are going to be held accountable for calling rascals to assault members of parliament in a way that is unconstitutional. That you must take note of,”

Bongekile Macupe   Senior Education Journalist +27 11 713 9001 Bongekile.macupe@citypress.co.za www.citypress.co.za 69 Kingsway Rd, Auckland Park