'ConCourt only option to hold president accountable'
Opposition parties have argued that approaching the Constitutional Court is the only way they are able to hold President Jacob Zuma to account.
The EFF, UDM and Cope believe Parliament has failed to hold the president accountable since the Constitutional Court's ruling on Nkandla in 2016.
It found that Zuma failed to uphold the Constitution.
The EFF's advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued that Mbete seems to be unclear on what her duty is as speaker of Parliament.
"Both Nkandla and in the secret ballot, this court was at pains to explain that the primary obligation for executive accountability is in the shoulders of the National Assembly. The court must repeat the same message for the third time for the Speaker. It's constitutionally disturbing that the Speaker keeps deflecting attention in relation to her responsibility of holding the executive accountable," he said.
Dali Mpofu for UDM and COPE said Mbete has refused on several occasions to implement disciplinary processes against Zuma, forcing opposition parties to approach the court.
But Adv. Ngaoko Maenetjie for Mbete argued that the speaker cannot initiate impeachment process against the president as it would impose on her impartiality
"Because the Speaker plays the role of a referee, an impartial role, it would be inconsistent with an office of an impartial Speaker to initiate the proceedings for the removal of a president on her own accord."
However, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was quick to question this stance.
To which Maenetjie responded: "Because a motion of no confidence is by its nature partisan."
Judgement has been reserved.