EFF statement on being ordered out of Parliament

24 June 2015

Today, government came to Parliament to ask for R23 billion to bail out Eskom and assist it to function. Eskom has to use this money, amongst other things, to buy coal for its power stations to use in order to generate more electricity.

The EFF then cautioned parliament and all of South Africa that approving this loan means assisting Ramaphosa to milk state resources which he attains through Shanduka that has stakes in mining companies that trade with the state. Ramaphosa also presides over the War Room that deals with the electricity crisis and amongst other things this War Room secretly decides on state and the country’s transactions in relation to electricity.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Lechesa Tsenoli, then ruled that the EFF is out of order for cautioning parliament about Ramaphosa’s conflict of interest. However, the EFF will never withdraw this because we know for a fact that Ramaphosa still owns and controls the affairs of Shanduka.

In essence, the presiding officer sought to suppress the truth and then ordered the EFF to leave parliament because of speaking the truth. The EFF refused to withdraw because it is a reality that approving a loan to Eskom means giving them more money to buy Ramaphisa’s coal whose prices have also been exuberantly inflated in order to milk state resources.

If parliament is to add value in society it must be able to speak truth to power. It must be able to tell those in power not to abuse the state for their personal benefit in no equivocal terms. We repeat and shall never withdraw that Ramaphosa is benefiting from the state loans to Eskom through the coal that his Shanduka is selling to Eskom.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, June 24 2015