Parliament leaves us to shame Letter to the Editor And so the chaos rife in all areas of society spreads to the highest echelons of our government. What an embarrassment for all South Africans in the eyes of the world when our leaders behave like a brawling mob instead of respecting the integrity of parliament and upholding the loyalty of the voters who put them there in the first place. It is not easy to decide what the worst scenario is at this juncture – the ANC steam rolling over opposition parties’ constitutional right to table motions in the National Assembly, the Speaker being at the beck and call of her masters when she is supposed to uphold order in Parliament, a President who seems to be completely ignorant regarding his constitutional obligation to answer for his actions to Chamber once in a quarter, riot police in Parliament for the first time since the murder of Hendrik Verwoerd in 1966, or the unruly, playground antics of opposition parties in the House? Whatever the reasons or excuses for the pandemonium – is this the front we want to present to the rest of the world? Is this how civilised, educated people behave? I would like to quote a Great Spirit and poet of the early days of the development of the Afrikaans language, CJ Langenhoven (1873 – 1932), also known as SagmoedigeNeelsie (Gentle Neelsie) or Kerneels. He was a Member of Parliament in the early years of the previous century, who once lost patience with his fellow members and said, “Half of you are a bunch of baboons!” He was reprimanded and asked to withdraw, which he promptly did, by saying, “I withdraw my statement. Half of you are not baboons!” Nobody could have put it better, although some (half?) of our current politicians may not understand the pun. Embarrassed South African
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 20:18:54 +0000
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