The EFF chief whip statement on the middle finger shown to Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa
18 September 2014
During its sitting on the 17th of September 2014, the Parliament of Republic of South Africa deliberated on a variety of questions, which the Deputy President of the ANC, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa was responding to.
Instead of allowing Mr. Ramaphosa to answer the follow up question on Why he instigated the killing of Mineworkers in Marikana, the Speaker ordered the Commander in Chief Julius Malema to leave the House for refusing to withdraw the assertion that Mr. Ramaphosa killed the workers in Marikana and his hands were full of blood.
The Speaker also ordered that I leave the House because I asked what was wrong with stating that Cyril Ramaphosa is a murderer and the basis of the Rule she was applying. In the process of leaving the house, I raised my middle finger towards Mr. Ramaphosa to express the digust of the reality that workers have lost lives due to his pursuit of private profits and interests.
I however realise that raising the middle finger was not necessary, because there are platforms to express the utter disgust for Mr.
Ramaphosa's role in Marikana and everywhere else where he is involved.
Instead of raising the middle finger, there exists space and time to express honest and truthful observations on his role in the counter-revolution. I therefore publicly withdraw the middle finger and will bring this to the attention of the House in the next sitting of the National Assembly. The assertions made about Mr. Ramaphosa in Parliament remains and I have no regrets expressing what I said about him.
While speaking the truth at all times, we as representatives of the EFF do not want to degenerate in a similar way the ANC has degenerated since the beginning of the 5th democratic Parliament. With no caution from Presiding Officers, the ANC has been labelling Members of Parliament as ‘Fascists', ‘Charlatans', ‘Hypocrites', ‘Schizophrenic', ‘Bastards' and so on. We refuse to join this band, but will at all times speak truth to power and will never retreat!
Statement issued by EFF Chief Whip, Floyd Shivambu, September 18 2014
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