Former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was formally elected as national assembly speaker in parliament on Thursday, amid threats of court action by a nongovernmental organisation and the EFF, the third largest party in parliament.
A total of 298 MPs voted via secret ballot, with Mapisa-Nqakula receiving 199 votes versus the 82 secured by DA candidate Annelie Lotriet. There were a total of 17 spoilt votes.
Opposition parties have condemned her election to lead the legislature, saying she did not acquit herself in her previous positions in the cabinet.
Among other things, she was found to have abused state resources after allowing an ANC delegation to use an SA Air Force jet to travel to Zimbabwe to meet Zanu-PF over the unrest in that country, ignoring level 2 lockdown regulations in operation then.
In 2016 she admitted to smuggling a Burundian woman with a false passport into SA on an SA Air Force jet. The woman was allegedly the girlfriend of her late son. In an interview with the Sunday Times that year, she denied that she had abused her power, telling the publication: “I'd do it again if I had to.”
Justifying her actions then, Mapisa-Nqakula said the woman came from an abused family and needed her help.
Mapisa-Nqakula was shifted from her ministerial role following the cabinet reshuffle earlier in August, which was largely sparked by the July riots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
The security cluster was caught napping and failed to act decisively to deal with the riots that left more than 300 dead.
Nongovernmental organisation the New Nation Movement has threatened to approach the courts to challenge Mapisa-Nqakula’s election as speaker. The group said the decision to elect her was imposed by ANC chair Gwede Mantashe and the governing party’s top six. The group, along with the EFF, which abstained from participating in the vote, says Ramaphosa conflated his role as president of the country and the ANC by imposing the leader of another arm of the state.
With Thando Maeko
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