Court steers clear of censuring Speaker

An application by Parliament’s minority parties to have National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete removed was dismissed by the Western Cape High Court yesterday when Judges Patricia Goliath, Robert Henney and Babalwa Mantame agreed there was no constitutional crisis that justified extraordinary intervention by the court. Agang SA, UDM and COPE had argued that Mbete, who doubles as chairperson of the ANC, was partisan and biased, and thus unfit to hold office. A TimesLIVE report notes that in December, Agang SA approached the court after parliamentary leader Andries Tlouamma tabled a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma. Agang SA did not want Mbete to preside over the debate and wanted voting done by secret ballot. The motion was scheduled for February, but Mbete refused to recuse herself and the National Assembly rejected the secret ballot. The full Bench concurred that courts were not constitutionally mandated to remove the Speaker from office. ‘Judicial independence would be adversely affected should the courts become embroiled in what is quintessentially a political act, save for those limited instances where legality calls on them to do so,’ the judgment stated.