EFF response to the DA on the matter of Parliament Security Services

19 May 2016

The EFF notes the hypocrisy of the Democratic Alliance in relation to the violence that members of the EFF received from the Parliamentary Protection Services. The DA Chief Whip is on record in parliament to have immediately demanded that the Protection Services be given uniform so that they can be identified. Yet today, he claims to know the identities of those who came to assault EFF MPs.

We know for a fact that Zuma’s bodyguard formed part of the entourage that came to remove EFF MPs on many occasions. In fact, the two men who came to specifically remove the CIC Julius Malema are not members of the Protection Service, but Zuma’s body guards. 

The whole country also witnessed that as the scuffle broke out, some of Zuma’s bodyguards came into the chamber to circle him. This is despite the fact that when in parliament, Zuma is bound by the same rules as the rest of other MPs. It means his bodyguards must not be functional in the house. He must be protected under the rules that protect other Members of Parliament.

In the last sitting (during the presidency Budget Vote) where Parliamentary Protection Services came in to remove EFF MPs, it is the EFF National Spokesperson who was the first to question as to how do we know that the people being called by the Speaker are indeed Parliamentary Protection Services. Today, the DA Chief Whip wants to use this argument against the EFF because the DA is now part of protecting Zuma. They do not ask why Zuma’s bodyguards were allowed to circle him inside the chamber, or used to remove EFF MPs. Their concern is how the EFF sought to protect itself, because they wanted the EFF MPs, in particular the CIC Julius Malema to be assaulted.

The DA took an official decision that it is not in its interest for Zuma to step down as President of the Republic because his mistakes earn them votes. They have decided to protect him as President until the elections because they use him as an elections draw card. This means they have decided to abandon a matter of principle, demonstrating that they love the DA more than they love South Africa.

The EFF has never hidden the fact that it does not believe that Zuma must be allowed to speak. Long before the Question and Answer Session on Tuesday, all South Africans knew that we will be there demanding Zuma must not to speak. We do this because we believe in the principles that we represented in the Constitutional Court and that we defended each time Zuma came to parliament. For us, our voters will vote for the EFF, whether Zuma is president or he is not. We remain principled and we shall continue to be consistent in application of that principle. 

South Africa must know the EFF as people who will defend principles with consistency and not compromise for political expediency. Finally, we have no time for all those unprincipled opposition parties who stood in front of the nation and said they do not recognise Zuma, boycotted him once and went on afterwards with business as usual. They are all spineless cowards, who have failed, since 1994 to transform anything about that parliament.

We are proud of our resistance because we believe in our constitutional right to self-defence. It has now become a matter of dignity for the men and women of the EFF, many of whom have homes and children, to defend themselves from Parliament Protection Services. The constitution of the Republic clearly states that MPs should not be removed from the house for the things that they say. All our MPs ever do is to speak truth to power. They never beat up anyone or threaten the life of anyone or the property of parliament, yet for many times now, hooligans are unleashed on them to assault them in front of the whole world. 

Now it is evident that the EFF is not only being attacked by protection services, the whole parliament is against us, all in protection of a criminal called Jacob Zuma.

Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, EFF, 19 May 2016