SAfrican opposition parties walk out of parliament

17 February, 2010 in South Africa

source: Guardian

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African opposition parties walked out of a parliament session Tuesday, accusing the governing African National Congress of trying to silence critics.

Mbhazima Shilowa, who left the ANC last year to form the Congress of the People party, said his party and the main opposition Democratic Alliance walked out after the deputy speaker ordered a Congress of the People lawmaker to withdraw a comment about the government leading the country into lawlessness.

When the lawmaker refused to withdraw his comment, he was expelled.

The deputy speaker is a member of the ANC, which has 264 seats, just short of two-thirds of the house in Cape Town. The Democratic Alliance has 67, and the Congress of the People, known as COPE, has 30.

Shilowa said that George, another former ANC leader, was only commenting on what COPE saw as a lack of [continue reading]