It was a busy day in parliament today, as Members of Parliament were busy discussing the fate of President Cyril Ramaphosa, following the Section 89 report on Phala-Phala farm scandal.
As usual, Julius Malema and his EFF members were hands on, with their endless point of orders. While engaging on his point of orders, Malema made an undermining statement which he claims “it was a mistake.”
Malema called ANC MP Tandi Mahambehlala as “Mahambelala” which means totally a different thing in translation of the two. “Mahambehlala” losely translates to ‘sitting around’ while “Mahambelala” means ‘sleeping around.’
Malema apparently made the mistake while objecting to the ANC MP, Mahambehlala’s decision to change her vote in favour of Section 89 report on Phala-Phala. Malema indicated that, what the MP has done should be stopped because it is not acceptable.
The Speaker corrected Malema and told him to withdraw the manner in which he called the honourable member. While Malema attempted to avoid withdrawing, the speaker emphasized that she doesn’t take what Malem said lightly, especially as woman.
“As a woman, I take exception to that kind of mistake.” The speaker told Julius Malema and that is when he agreed to withdraw his words.
Malema’s “mistake” caused an uproar in parliament as most members of the parliament especially women protested after his assertions. What he said could simply be interpreted as a pure disrespect to women. This kind of mistakes are not acceptable coming from influential leaders like Julius Malema.