The Moment South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa Told John Steenhuisen to ‘Shut Up’
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa couldn’t stand the “incessant chirping” (in the words of the SABC) anymore… and broke in Parliament yesterday, telling the opposition party’s Chief Whip John Steenhuisen: “I want you to shut up!” It was two hours into the Question and Answer session in the National Assembly and Ramaphosa just wanted to […]
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa couldn’t stand the “incessant chirping” (in the words of the SABC) anymore… and broke in Parliament yesterday, telling the opposition party’s Chief Whip John Steenhuisen: “I want you to shut up!”
It was two hours into the Question and Answer session in the National Assembly and Ramaphosa just wanted to be heard.
The DA’s Steenhuisen appeared to take it good-naturedly, but pointed out to the Speaker that Ramaphosa’s words were “unparliamentary”. Rampahosa withdrew his comments, but begged Steenhuisen to listen!
Later Steenhuisen said the President must “toughen up”… and on Twitter he wrote: “To tweeps celebrating that the President told me to “shut up”, laugh now but take note. It starts with the opposition being told to shut up, it will soon move to the media and pretty soon all will be “shut up”. We must always speak up and speak out, it’s how democracy is sustained.”
WATCH Cyril Ramaphosa tell John Steenuisen to ‘shut up’
[WATCH] SHUT UP , says President Cyril Ramaphosa to #DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen during the #RamaphosaQandA in Parliament on Tuesday.
Watch More: https://t.co/f2nU8sMUUY #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/x0CFHEuF3n
— SABC News (@SABCNews) May 9, 2018
During the Q and A session, Ramaphosa covered a few issues, including:
On Corruption within the Goverment
Ramaphosa insisted that the Presidency has embarked on a journey of rooting out corruption in government, and that “where there is wrongdoing we will act”. He said the mission is to clean government and bring accountability and transparency. Anybody who is found to have dealt with corruption or wrongdoing will be dealt with.
On Land Expropriation without Compensation
The President revealed that about 140,000 submissions from South Africans have been received so far on the issue of land expropriation without compensation.
He said it is one way of healing the wounds of the past. Ramaphosa said: “That past is not a fable, that past is a reality… it is only when we accept the reality of what we’ve gone through that we can deal with the wounds of the present, and heal the wounds so that the future may be a lot better for ALL of us.”