Johannesburg – A session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) was disrupted briefly as EFF MP Julius Malema hurled insults threatening “kill” a fellow member.
“Don’t make noise here, we are here to listen, don’t make noise here. I will f*ck you up outside, I will kill you outside, I will kill you. You do not know me,” Malema is heard saying to a fellow PAP member during a heated altercation.
ANC MP Pemmy Majodina, a fellow PAP member, was seen restraining Malema during the incident. The other member was also restrained and retreated back to his seat following the incident.
The fourth day of sitting for the Pan-African Parliament had to be adjourned on Thursday due to a Covid-19 case.
The sitting kicked off on Monday in Midrand, Joburg.
Julius Malema threatening to KILL his African brother during the seating of African Parliament.
Talk about self hate of Africans 😂
At least we only want them to leave our jobs, small businesses and country BUT we don’t want to kill them!#VoetsekEFF #PutSouthAfricansFirst pic.twitter.com/yPRyvgkHWU
— Patriot 🇿🇦(Making South Africa Great Again!) (@landback_) May 27, 2021
Legislators from various African states have been attending the sitting which has thus far debated a variety of issues including the rotation of the PAP presidency.
The PAP is the legislative arm of the AU.
Thursday’s sitting was adjourned after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. The decision to cancel the sitting to Monday followed a tense debate between MPs.
A minority called for the sitting to continue as it was only a staff member that was infected and not any of the MPs. Threats of violence among some MPs were also heard with one member saying another had threatened to harm a fellow MP.
Majodina spoke strongly for the sitting to be adjourned until Monday to allow for deep cleaning of the venue and ensure no one else gets infected.
“Acting president as part of the Covid-19 protocols, once a staff or any person is found to have been positive to Covid-19, and that person was on premises, it is only fair that the area must be evacuated and all members present here must be subjected to testing because you do not know how long you will carry that virus in your body,” Moajodina said.
It was decided that the sitting would be adjourned until Monday. Some MPs left the room still protesting loudly to the decision.
The PAP’s sitting drew some attention on Wednesday as Malema rose numerous times on points of order. First, he called out other members who were unruly. Malema was addressing the behaviour of a fellow MP.
“Acting president, exercise your power, you cannot be held at ransom by hooligans. Don’t be scared of the hooligan, we can deal with him now. We are not here for him, run this house,” Malema said.
“Why are you scared of this guy. Remove this thing from the house. We are not going to sit here and be bullied by this guy,” he said.
Malema also rose on a point of order earlier on the debate of rotation of the PAP presidency.
He added that the rotation was important as it would allow for democratic practices.
“The four fathers who came before us wanted to eliminate unneeded contestation amongst Africans by coming up with democratic principles. If you are concerned about this continent and you are not serving the interests of colonists then you will not have an issue in adopting a principle that will unite Africans,” Malema said.
Malema said with power only being concentrated in certain regions, it was not democratic.
Similar sentiments were shared by National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise who gave an opening address earlier this week.
“It is time that we recognise that unity is not how we show might, unity will not come about on how we show wealth, unity is about slowing the pace to enable the slowest amongst us to keep up,” Modise said.
Political Bureau
