Mchunu's chief of staff demands apology as MPs rally behind evidence leader
Senzo Mchunu’s Chief of Staff, Cedrick Nkabinde.
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH/Independent Newspapers
Members of Parliament (MPs) are uncertain about the potential inclusion of evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse SC under the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2004.
This comes after suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu’s chief of staff, Cedrick Nkabinde, is demanding an apology from Parliament’s Ad Hoc committee evidence leader for comments he made last Wednesday.
In a letter to Arendse dated October 17, Nkabinde’s lawyers, Lawtons Africa, said the remarks were made on October 15, when suspended deputy police commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya appeared.
“During the course of these proceedings, and at around 7:16:14 and after the Chairperson had made a ruling that the evidence leader, Advocate Norman Arendse SC, (“Arendse SC”) must clarify certain issues that needed clarity, Arendse SC made reference to our client’s name,” the letter mentions.
The letter states that “these statements and insinuations, made in a public forum and broadcast to the wider public, are not true and they are a clear and defamatory implication that our client is involved in criminal activities, specifically in relation to so-called drug cartels and organised crime, operating in Gauteng”.
Evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse SC.
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Nkabinde, according to the letter, is seeking for Arendse SC, to desist making remarks “associating or implying to associate our client with any so-called criminal syndicates and/or drug cartels operating in Gauteng”, and that he makes a full and “unequivocal public retraction of the defamatory statements made or implied”.
The Ad Hoc Committee spokesperson said that Arendse SC would be best placed for comment. He has been contacted for comment, but has yet to respond.
DA MP Ian Cameron said that he sees the matter as being one in which the Ethics Committee would have to weigh-in on as “that could be quite a hefty punishment”.
Cameron said he is unclear on how far the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliaments and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2004, would extend, and if it would include Arendse as the evidence leader.
“I think Nkabinde is, as the Afrikaans saying goes ‘soos ‘n kat op ‘n warm plaat’ (like a cat on a hot tin roof). He should just wait his turn, and then he can come to the Ad Hoc Committee and state his case.
Cameron said that the evidence leader’s job is to probe things and that he may ask questions that could be extremely uncomfortable.