Parliament said it was not in contact with expelled founder of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, Jabulani Khumalo regarding the much-anticipated sitting on Friday where the president and other key functionaries will be elected.
IOL reported on Tuesday that Khumalo confirmed that he will attend the first sitting of Parliament, despite a statement from the political party stating that its members would not attend the debut sitting.
Khumalo announced this in a statement on Monday, stating that, “I, Jabulani Khumalo, am making this public statement in my capacity as the leader of uMkhonto weSizwe”.
MK party has indicated that its 58 elected members, who are expected to occupy seats in the National Assembly, will boycott and not attend the first sitting slotted for Friday.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, spokesperson for the National Assembly, Moloto Mothapo, said regarding arrangements for the 58 incoming MK party parliamentarians, the National Assembly does not liaise with Khumalo as party leader.
“There are certain individuals, leaders as per the IEC (Electoral Commission of South Africa) list that we as Parliament are compelled, or we have identified as the people we can communicate with on behalf of the party. We are continuously in communication with those leaders,” said Mothapo.
“We have not received the communication from Mr Khumalo and we can say Mr Khumalo is not on the list of people that we are communicating with, on behalf of their parties.”
He however said he cannot divulge who Parliament is in contact with regarding arrangements for MK party parliamentarians.
“I cannot indicate at the moment. I do not have (the name). You can imagine, we have how many parties that are coming in to Parliament. I think it is quite a substantial. We are discussing on an ongoing basis with the leaders of those parties in terms of the arrangements that we are making for the first sitting,” said Mothapo.
“We do understand that Mr Khumalo’s case is before the courts and Parliament has always complied with whatever outcome that the court tells it to do.”
The MK party which gained a little over 14% of the national vote has indicated that it intends to interdict the first sitting of the National Assembly, citing voting irregularities.
The MK party is arguing that the National Assembly's first session should not have been scheduled.
IOL