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No final ruling by legislature ethics committee against Athol Trollip

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Dear MyPE

Reports in today’s Daily Dispatch and The Herald state that the ethics committee of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature had found DA legislature leader Athol Trollip guilty of the use of unparliamentary language.

The ethics committee nor the legislature has made any final ruling on the usage of unparliamentary language by DA legislature leader Athol Trollip.

On Tuesday the deputy speaker, Bulelwa Tunyiswa, presented a report from the ethics committee in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature, which was sent back to the committee by the speaker, Noxolo Kiviet, after the DA lodged objections.

The DA objections were as follow:

The report did not present Athol Trollip’s side of the story in a balanced manner;
The Standing Rules of Procedure of the legislature specifically state that unparliamentary language needs to be used in the house. The committee’s report referred to what was contained in the media; and
The DA also raised the constitutionality of whether or not a ruling could prevent a member from interacting with the media, pending the final outcome of a matter.

This very press release illustrates the point that incorrect information has now been put in the public eye and inaccurate information has been attributed to Athol Trollip.

If Athol Trollip was gagged from speaking we would be unable to defend our constitutional rights and fulfil our role as the official opposition.

Regards

Bobby Stevenson

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Port Elizabethan

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