A DA walkout. An absent EFF, except for one MP, alongside several smaller parties like the United Democratic Movement and Cope. And several other opposition parties missing MPs.
The count of 244 votes for and 12 against is not just a telling reflection of the level of support for an incoming permanently appointed Public Protector – the acting incumbent Kholeka Gcaleka – but also a show of deeply embedded divisions and majoritarianism, South Africa’s particular take on democracy.
The governing ANC is not shy to use its numbers to get its way, even outside meetings of its National Executive Committee. This sometimes goes awry.
In June 2022, the ANC proceeded with its choice of anti-apartheid veteran and ex-Presidency director-general, Frank Chikane, as intelligence inspector-general – without the two-thirds support the Constitution required.
That vote bombed, and it was back to the drawing board. Ultimately, Imtiaz Fazel got the intelligence oversight job in September 2022.
And so, for Thursday’s vote for the new Public Protector, the ANC knew it had to muster every one of its 230 MPs. That’s why, for example, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni had to make it to the parliamentary sitting in Cape Town by 2pm after delivering the Cabinet briefing at 9am in Pretoria.
All but a couple of ANC MPs assembled.
With the support of 13 of the 14 IFP MPs (one was absent due to ill health), and some of the two and one-seat parties – the numbers indicate not all who expressed support actually voted – Gcaleka got the nod.
The deputy Public Protector, who has been acting in the position since the suspension of Busisiwe Mkhwebane in June 2022, would now be referred to President Cyril Ramaphosa for official appointment.
But that’s not before deep-seated divisions once again emerged. The House has, for some time now, not been the multiparty institution for consideration of public issues and of peoples’ representatives – as the Constitution puts it – but rather a party-political, point-scoring platform.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Parliament endorses Kholeka Gcaleka as new Public Protector in unruly sitting marked by DA walkout, EFF’s absence
The power of power
Some of that is purely political theatre, like the Palestinian keffiyeh most ANC MPs sported on Thursday, and the moment of silence not only for an MP and a senior parliamentary official who died.
“We also note with deep sadness and pain the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and that civilians’ lives have been lost on both sides of the conflict... May we please rise to observe a moment of silence,” said National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Some of it is more fundamental – how the power of power, and numbers, is exercised in politics.
Claims of bias against the ANC MP who is the Speaker are not new, as former incumbent Baleka Mbete will attest.
However, for DA leader John Steenhuisen to describe Mapisa-Nqakula as “a liar” and “dishonest” – also in relation to the controversial salary hike of Secretary to Parliament Xolile George – is unusual.
“You are an absolute disgrace... You are destroying Parliament,” said Steenhuisen, talking also of a motion of no confidence.
“You absolutely do not belong on this chair. You are dishonest and you are a liar.”
Strong words, given that “liar” is unparliamentary, but also signalling the trench lines in a Parliament ticking the boxes on the back of governing ANC numbers in the House – and how those in power exercise power.
What led to this fracas was DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach’s comment that Gcaleka had “a very cosy relationship, some say intimate relationship, with her boss, the rather odious Menzi Simelane, leading to speedy promotions…”
Breytenbach and Gcaleka were at the prosecution service at the same time.
The ANC objected – Good party MP Brett Heron later called the comment “racist” and “sexist” – with Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi intervening: “(W)e can’t allow to have such an insinuation in the House, given what we have gone through as women in this country.”
Mapisa-Nqakula agreed, invoking Rule 88 that prohibits casting aspersions on the holder of a public office – and ordered Breytenbach to withdraw. When she didn’t, the DA MP was ordered out.
The DA argued that Rule 88 didn’t apply – Gcaleka was not yet approved as Public Protector as the role was under consideration in the House. Not as deputy Public Protector or acting Public Protector.
The Speaker didn’t rule on Steenhuisen’s statements, but said: “For now, the liar will say: Let us proceed with the proceedings of this House.”
DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube raised a question of bias regarding Mapisa-Nqakula’s ruling on Breytenbach, and when she was dismissed, announced the DA walkout.
EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi was in the House to publicly state the party’s opposition to Gcaleka. His comments about her bias, and describing her as “not an honest person”, “a liar” and “a manipulator” went uninterrupted. It was his “thug” comment regarding ANC MPs that got him into hot water with the Speaker.
As he was ordered out of the House after refusing to withdraw his remarks, Manyi, pointing to the ANC seats, continued: “These people are thugs. These are elected thugs. They know nothing about representing the people of this country... I’d rather go than sit with thugs.”
But no intervention came when ANC MP Qubudile Dyantyi criticised Breytenbach who “ran away, could not hide her bias…” and allowed personal feelings to interfere.
“The DA wants that we forgo the best person... because of someone who can not get over a personal experience (at the NPA)...”
The point?
Rather than the consensus of a multiparty democracy, as the Constitution outlines, ANC numbers and leveraged influence carried the day once again. Or, as ANC MP Mina Lesoma, put it: “Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka is fit and proper to serve as the fifth Public Protector of the Republic.”
But Thursday’s 244 votes for Gcaleka is a far cry from the unanimous approval of Thuli Madonsela as Public Protector in 2009, and also falls short of the support Mkhwebane received in 2016 when only the DA abstained.
And that reflects how trenches dug on the back of numbers in a majoritarian rather than multiparty democracy can erode trust in the process and in institutions themselves. DM