15.05.2025
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Dramatic scenes in Parly as EFF MP Sihle Lonzi gets kicked out

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There were dramatic scenes at the portfolio committee on Higher Education and Training when the Parliamentary Protection Services removed EFF MP Sihle Lonzi from the meeting.

Committee members had earlier agreed that questions on the appointment of board members at SETAs would be scheduled for another meeting and be directed to Minister Nobuhle Nkabane.

However, Lonzi insisted on questioning the appointment of board members.

Parliament’s Protection Services was called-in to remove Lonzi from the meeting after he insisted on asking questions about the appointment of Board Members to the Director General of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nkosikathi Sishi.

“DG are you aware that the son of Gwede Mantashe has been appointed as one of the chairs of the SETA boards?” enquired Lonzi.

Other committee members asked for the intervention of the Committee Chairperson Tebogo Letsie and he called Parliament’s Protection Services to remove Lonzi from the meeting.

IFP MP, Sanele Sethembeni, followed by MK MP, Mnqobi Msezane and ANC MP, Gaolatlhe Kgabo

“The one who does the appointments is the minister and we have agreed as the whole committee, because I started on that question when I got here, but because it is the powers and privileges of the minister to appoint board of SETAs, we leave it like this to say we have the meeting with the minister,” said IFP MP, Sanele Sethembeni.

“We are going to lose confidence in you as the chair of this committee. The meeting is degenerating, you know, and some of us would rather be doing other work of parliament. Bring the house to order. We don’t want to see this,” said MK MP, Mnqobi Msezane.

“We are not here for people who want Facebook (likes). It’s not as if we cannot degenerate to this level. We can we are both young people. We can take each other head on, toe to toe,”  said ANC MP, Gaolatlhe Kgabo.

The EFF released a statement condemning “the  unparliamentary conduct of Mr Tebogo Letsie and the violent removal of Commissar Sihle Lonzi from Parliamentary Committee”, describing what happened as “undemocratic”.

“Instead of allowing the DG to respond to this legitimate inquiry, Chairperson Tebogo Letsie, backed by ANC-aligned committee members, shut down the question, disrupted proceedings, and proceeded to call in parliamentary security personnel to forcibly remove Commissar Lonzi from the meeting. This undemocratic act was not only unparliamentary in nature, but a violent suppression of accountability and a direct attack on the political rights of Members of Parliament to exercise oversight over the Executive,” said the party in a post on X.

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