The legal counsel for National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza has argued that she does not possess the power to call for the removal of EFF leader Julius Malema from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The Helen Suzman Foundation wants the Western Cape High Court to declare invalid and set aside Didiza’s April decision that declined to ensure that the House considered Malema’s suitability to be designated to the JSC.
In its court papers, the foundation argues that Malema has, for over seven years, launched sustained attacks on the judiciary, despite sitting on the body deciding over the appointment of judicial officers.
Advocate Kameel Premhid argued that the Speaker doesn’t have the powers to bring the matter of removal before the NA.
“And Speaker says, in the context of Parliament, I operate as a creature of statute. I don’t have these wide-sweeping powers that the HSF asserts I have. I, myself, am constrained by the rules that I operate in. If they feel it’s insufficient, the correct way to come to court is to attack the rules,” says Premhid.