Parliament on Wednesday denied that it had asked the Western Cape High Court to postpone the application by three opposition parties to have National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete removed.

This comes after Agang SA parliamentary leader Andries Tlouamma on Tuesday said lawyers for Mbete asked the court to postpone the matter to give them more time to prepare.

“This is untrue,” Parliament said in a statement.

“Parliament’s legal team was ready to deal with the matter before court yesterday [Tuesday] and will be ready to deal with this matter on the new date as determined by the court, namely, August 4.”

Parliament said its legal team opposed Agang, Cope and UDM’s request for the court to accept their failure to give the registrar of the high court a required notice describing the constitutional issues they were raising

“The Western Cape High Court rejected the argument from the applicants that the rule of court requiring them to deliver such a notice did not apply.

“It also rejected the applicants’ alternative argument that it was in the interests of justice to dispense with the notice requirement and proceed with the case without giving interested persons and civil society a chance to participate,” it said.

According to City Press the DA and EFF joined the UDM, Cope and Agang SA’s legal action asking the court to force Mbete to recuse herself.

In December, Agang SA approached the court after Tlouamma, reportedly tabled a motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.

Agang SA did not want Mbete to preside over the debate and wanted voting done by secret ballot.

The motion was scheduled from February but Mbete refused to recuse herself and the National Assembly rejected the secret ballot voting. News24