uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party chief whip Sihle Ngubane blames parliament for dragging its feet regarding the swearing in of the party’s big guns as MPs.
Ngubane told Sunday World this week that parliament was applying dirty tricks and “playing a game it is not going to win”.
“They are deliberately dragging their feet and making excuses. First, they said they were busy preparing for the opening of parliament, and then they said they were busy with budget speeches. Now all of that is done, and they are still not giving us a date.
“We want our top guns sworn in as soon as possible so they can begin with their work.
“We have a lot of work to do, and we are bringing members of the capacity to help us deliver on the people’s mandate,” Ngubane said.
He confirmed that on July 12, he sent an official letter to Xolile George, the parliament secretary, containing the list of 13 MK members they anticipate taking the oath.
“Our top five members on the list are Brian Molefe, Lucky Montana, Tom Moyane, Siyabonga Gama, and Penny Penny. It doesn’t matter how long they delay it, it is going to happen.”
He continued: “We have the right to have our members sworn in.”
Last month, Sunday World reported that the party planned to form a team of heavyweights in the House of Assembly and the National Council of Provinces as its new members of parliament .
“We are not bringing just numbers to parliament, but these members have a lot of experience in different fields, and they are going to help the country resolve some of the crises like energy, transportation and infrastructure problems,” Ngubane said.
We reported that Molefe, a former Eskom CEO; Montana, a former Prasa CEO; Gama, a former Transnet CEO; Moyane, a former Sars commissioner; and musician Penny Penny, born Eric Nkovane, were going to parliament on an MK ticket.
An ANC MP has claimed that the party has plotted the delay to swear in Penny Penny “to teach him a lesson”.
After a fight with the party secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula over a booking to perform at the MK manifesto launch at Orlando Stadium, the musician, who was an ANC councillor in Giyani, resigned. He later joined the Jacob Zuma- led party.
He became a member of MK and campaigned for the party ahead of elections.
“I am going to be a member of parliament soon; they can delay it, but they won’t stop it,” the musician told Sunday World.
Gama, Moyane and Montana also confirmed that they had accepted MK membership .
“They thought they had buried us with their state capture commission but they didn’t know that we were seeds.” Montana said.
