The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party says there is nothing untoward about it not yet having taken up all its seats in Parliament this week.
After initially boycotting the first sitting two weeks ago, at which the president was elected, 53 caucus members were sworn in at a special ceremony in Parliament on Tuesday.
However, five vacancies still have to be filled as the party gears up to become the official opposition in the house.
Parliament is preparing for the first plenary of the 7th administration next week. As the third largest party in Parliament, the MK Party has already got stuck into the house rules.
This week its newly-minted Chief Whip Sihle Ngubane said the party would table a motion for changes to accord the party main opposition status.
This is despite an ongoing challenge in the Electoral Court over the legitimacy of last month’s poll result.
Fifty-three of the 58 seats awarded to the party have now been filled after wholesale changes were made to its supplementary and reserve party lists.
The party’s spokesperson and new member of Parliament Nhlamulo Ndlela said that not all its members could attend Tuesday’s ceremony, adding that they will wait for Parliament to suggest another date for the rest of them to take their oath.
“Some people decided they weren’t interested to play a role in Parliament, that happens. We had in certain instances expelled certain members.”
The party is being led by impeached former judge president John Hlophe, who has assumed a vacant seat after the expulsion of the party’s founder Jabulani Khumalo.
On Tuesday, parties are expected to table names for Parliament’s representatives on the Judicial Service Commission.
However, the party said this week it was too soon to say whether Hlophe would be nominated as its candidate.
-EWN
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