DA wants Mbete removed from #ZumaQnA
President Jacob Zuma will answer questions in Parliament for the final time this year.
The DA, however, does not want Speaker Baleka Mbete to preside over the sitting during which oral questions will be posed to the President.
"She wants to protect her boss [President Zuma] at all costs," says DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane has written to Mbete requesting her not to preside over the sitting.
Steenhuisen referred to an incident yesterday, when Mbete - according to him - put the president first.
"We left the House yesterday, because the Speaker once again showed in the most blatant way possible that she is not there to defend Parliament and the rights of Members of Parliament. She is there to defend President Jacob Zuma," says Steenhuisen.
DA MP Denise Robinson referred to President Zuma as 'JZ783', which prompted a point of order by an ANC MP, saying no MP can use offensive or unbecoming language.
Mbete subsequently told Robinson to leave the podium and the House for casting aspersions on the President.
"It is simply inexplicable to me how the words "JZ783", which relate to the President and the public fact that he currently faces 783 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering, could be deemed as "offensive or unbecoming language"," says Steenhuisen.