SPEAKER of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Ms. Nontembeko Boyce, hopes that the opening ceremony of the Legislature will not have the chaos that occurred when the motion of no confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister, Mr. Thami Ntuli was heard.
Ms Boyce said that members who will try to slander the two-day event to be held in Pietermaritzburg will be punished.
He said this while speaking to the media in Durban.
The event will start tomorrow when Zwelithini’s King Misuzulu Sinqobile will officially open the Legislative Assembly.
Ntuli’s speech will follow, which will be held on Friday.
It will be the first time that members of the Legislative Assembly meet live after the crisis that started when there was a motion of no confidence in Ntuli’s leadership.
Members of MKP and EFF got up in a frenzy, disrupted the meeting and ended up fighting with the police who were called to stop the noise.
Members of the MKP and EFF were suspended after the confusion that arose from the meeting held on December 15.
When asked by Ms. Boyce if there are any steps they will take to ensure that the same does not happen on the day of the event, she said she hopes that members of the Legislature will behave well.
“You remind me of another thing, and I had forgotten what happened on December 15. The Legislature is a place for debate, but what happened on December 15 is not what we expected. Because there are laws that govern the Legislature and Parliament, we took measures. We hope that it will not happen again. If it happens again, we hope that the laws will work. We cannot say that we have planned it, but we hope that the same thing will not happen.”
Ms. Boyce said there are rules in place that explain the steps to be taken by members of the Legislature who go astray.
Ms Boyce said that after the meeting that heard the motion of no confidence in Ntuli’s leadership, they sat down and looked at the laws of the Legislative Assembly.
“That’s why we took the steps we took. We still rely on the laws.”
Ms. Boyce said it was the first time there had been such a crisis in the Legislature.
Ms. Boyce said members of the Legislature usually behave well when it is the opening ceremony of the Legislature.
“Since I became the Speaker, there was only one time when the security forces had to be called to remove members who were causing trouble. The members know that the day of the opening ceremony of the Legislative Assembly is not a day to fight political battles. Silo comes to open the Legislative Assembly, and then the prime minister delivers his speech. After the prime minister’s speech, there is a debate. This is when political parties get the opportunity to express their opinion.”