Africa-Press – South-Africa. MK Party chief whip Colleen Makhubele has played down confusion about the Appropriation Bill in parliament where she mistakenly voted “yes” for the bill the party maintained it would reject.
During the budget vote on Wednesday, Makhubele announced the party was voting in favour of the bill, claiming 49 votes in support. However, after the house chair asked her to verify, she did a swift U-turn, declaring they were voting against the bill.
Makhubele said she thought they were voting for the ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
“We are rejecting this. We are changing our vote. I thought we were dealing with the ad hoc committee. We will support it when it comes, that was the confusion,” Makhubele said.
“I’m just a new chief whip, I will make errors, so relax. We are voting against the bill.”
Makhubele, who was appointed chief whip last month replacing Mzwanele Manyi, faced severe backlash from other MPs who mocked her in parliament.
EFF leader Julius Malema criticised Makhubele’s blunder during a media briefing on Thursday.
“It was a mess, a mess in action,” Malema said. “That’s what you elected South Africa. You are asked twice and you’re saying, ‘I’m voting in support’. That MK Party caucus almost collapsed yesterday [Wednesday]. You elect people who do not understand. The chairperson allows that. It’s not principled. Once the voting is closed it’s done. He undermined the decorum and the integrity of that process. MK Party will never reduce us in numbers anywhere else including in thinking.”
The National Assembly approved the Appropriation Bill by 262 votes to 90. All 10 parties in the government of national unity voted in favour, while the MK Party, EFF, African Transformation Movement, United Africans Transformation and National Coloured Congress opposed the bill.
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