Publications
Partners
Two assault cases were opened after EFF members were removed from the North West legislature during the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Friday.
The two EFF members, Papiki Babuile and Matshidiso Botswe, were ejected from the chamber for interrupting Premier Job Mokgoro when they took issue with his delivery of the SOPA, according to IOL.
Five security guards physically removed Botswe, who was seen outside. He was bleeding from his nose and received medical assistance, according to the report.
READ | Bribery allegations at North West Gambling Board
The DA also took issue with Mokgoro's authority to deliver the SOPA.
Daily Maverick reported that the DA staged a walkout after speaker Susan Dantjie refused to allow the party's members to raise points of order.
In a statement, the EFF said its members raised the relevance of the premier's address while the province was under administration and monitored by an inter-ministerial task team.
"The speaker refused to afford the EFF the opportunity to table points of order and further hold the premier accountable. She went to the extent of instructing security to forcefully remove members of the EFF, including those who were identified to be EFF members in the gallery. EFF members were assaulted and subsequently hospitalised," the party said in a statement on Saturday.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Sam Tselanyane confirmed that Botswe and Doctor Victor Tsie opened assault cases at the Mmabatho police station on Friday.
"[Botswe] alleges … he was at the provincial legislature with members of the EFF at the chamber and he raised his hand for a point of order. He was then ordered to leave the house and was forcefully removed [from] the chamber. [In] the passage, he was assaulted by the security with fists and he was also kicked in the process," said Tselanyane.
Tsie alleged that he was "removed from the legislature by security officer and a certain man unknown to him threw him with bottles and hit him with a fist on his left eye", Tselanyane added.
The cases are still under investigation and no arrests have been made.
- Compiled by Nicole McCain
