Political atonement, parliamentary penalty

[SA Heart]( [Mail & Guardian Newsletter logo](#) [mg.co.za]( [The Ampersand Daily Newsletter from the M&G team](#) [Divider Strip] September 16 2020 | [View in browser]( [Divider Strip] [Facebook icon]( [Twitter icon]( [Instagram icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( Hi there, The Iron Lady of Inanda is once again in the headlines. This time the ANC is waving an agitated finger at Zandile Gumede's supporters after they defied the party and protested outside the Durban magistrate's court last week during her appearance on corruption charges. Gumede herself can also expect a stern talking to for her failure to rebuke their actions. Paddy Harper reports that [ANC leaders were "very disappointed"]( by the behaviour of Gumede and her supporters and plan on taking action against them. The governing party, which is currently on a clean-up campaign, is discouraging all its members from associating with their comrades who have "legal difficulties". Gumede's personal legal difficulty sees her out on R50 000 bail over charges relating to the mismanagement of a R400-million waste-removal tender. ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli told a media briefing yesterday that the former eThekwini mayor's supporters had not only attended the court hearing without the permission of the ANC but "went further and carried placards which were extremely offensive and divisive". "We have to engage her on that. We cannot allow a situation where people have a licence to undermine the authority of the ANC and go further and act in a way that attempts to sow divisions in the ANC," he said. Speaking of political behaviour, Lester Kiewit reports that Parliament's powers and privileges committee has agreed to [hold an inquiry into the conduct of Economic Freedom Fighters]( MPs during two different disruptions. The first occurred when about 20 red-overall-clad MPs rushed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan while he was presenting a speech from a podium in the centre of a meeting chamber during a sitting of his department's budget speech in July last year. The second matter relates to the disruption of President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address in February. The EFF's MPs refused to allow the event to continue until apartheid's last president, FW De Klerk, left the public gallery. In delivering its legal opinion on the disruption of the State of the Nation address, parliamentary legal advisers agreed that legislators could investigate the EFF MPs for the disorder and had the jurisdiction to charge the MPs for breaking parliamentary rules. The M&G relies on the support of readers like you to continue reporting and contextualising what is happening within all our major political parties. Please consider a [subscription or donation]( to fund this important work. Yours in solidarity, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Divider Strip] [Old Mutual]( [Divider Strip] [Facebook icon]( [Twitter icon]( [Instagram icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( You are receiving this email on {EMAIL} because 1.) You're a member of "Mail & Guardian" or 2.) previously subscribed [M&G logo] 25 Owl St, Braamfontein Werf, Johannesburg, 2092 Want to be removed? No problem! [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Email support: help@media-connect.co.za - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -