Parliamentary brawl 'unbecoming and uncharacteristic'
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise has condemned an incident on Wednesday at Parliament that saw Members of Parliament causing mayhem.
Modise has condemned the incident as "unbecoming and uncharacteristic of honourable Members of Parliament".
The MPs were undergoing training after recently being sworn in.
It’s training for new MPs. Training. But the EFF can’t help themselves. pic.twitter.com/AT7SzDYCZc
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) June 12, 2019
Modise, who was in attendance but not chairing the session, took to the podium and appealed to MPs to adhere to the decorum and respect the authority of the chairperson of the session. She stressed that while it was normal and acceptable for a difference of views to arise from time to time, it was inappropriate to allow emotions to get the better of public representatives in such fashion.
"Other than the unfortunate brief incident, the week-long induction and orientation programme, in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, is proceeding well and will conclude on Thursday," said Modise in a statement.
"The programme is intended to ensure capacity for MPs to discharge their Constitutional roles and responsibilities as elected representatives. These programmes cover their constitutional functions, legislative processes, House rules and policies, amongst others."
"Other than the unfortunate brief incident, the week-long induction and orientation programme, in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, is proceeding well and will conclude on Thursday," said Modise in a statement.
"The programme is intended to ensure capacity for MPs to discharge their Constitutional roles and responsibilities as elected representatives. These programmes cover their constitutional functions, legislative processes, House rules and policies, amongst others."
Listen to Modise below: