The EFF has vowed to defend itself at parliamentary hearings this month into its members’ allegedly disruptive behaviour during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s budget vote speech last year and his oral response to the debate about the speech.

The hearings are centered on incidents in June last year, when EFF MPs objected to being addressed by a ‘money launderer’.

The Mail & Guardian reports that the party said it views the charges against its MPs as a form of persecution for its demand for ‘accountability from a money-laundering accused President of SA’.

EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said: ‘We will unquestionably oppose the charges against EFF MPs in Parliament. This is irrefutable evidence of the tyranny of Ramaphosa, who is a paranoid figure wielding state institutions against those who dare to oppose him.’

Last year’s disruption of Ramaphosa’s speech came when EFF leader Julius Malema called on party members to disrupt all the President’s public appearances, over a controversy about the theft of foreign currency at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.

Malema contended that Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office by being involved in ‘money laundering’.

Parliament also charged EFF MPs Nazier Paulsen, Khanya Ceza and Ntombovuyo Mente with disrupting an oral question session with Ramaphosa on 30 August 2022.

The hearing is set to take place next month after Advocate Norman Arendse recused himself from it, citing conflict of interest with his new job as chairperson of the UCT council.

If the EFF members are found guilty of these disruptions, they could face suspension without pay for up to 30 days and may incur fines not exceeding the equivalent of one month’s salary, according to the National Assembly’s Power And Privileges Committee.

Full Mail & Guardian report