News24 | New defence committee co-chair elected after Malusi Gigaba’s controversial exit

The new co-chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, Mzimasi Hala, was elected on 16 October.

Supplied/ Parliament of South Africa

• Mzimasi Hala was elected co-chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on Friday.
• He replaced Malusi Gigaba, whom the ANC removed from the committee.
• The election followed an earlier attempt in September, which descended into chaos after questions were raised about Gigaba’s status in the committee.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

Weeks after the ANC's failed attempt to elect Mzimasi Hala as co-chair of the parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Defence, he has finally been elected.

His election on Friday followed an earlier attempt in September, which descended into chaos after it emerged that Hala’s fellow ANC colleague, Malusi Gigaba, had not been officially removed as the co-chair for the National Assembly component of the committee.

On Friday, DA MP Emma Powell reminded the committee of the attempt to elect Hala on 2 September and described it as a “disgrace”.

The ANC contingent wanted Hala to replace Gigaba, who had been the co-chair since the start of the seventh Parliament in June 2024.

However, it was disrupted by the DA and EFF, which raised procedural concerns via letters to Speaker Thoko Didiza.

News24 reported that after the EFF’s letter to Didiza, she overturned Hala’s initial election because she had not received official confirmation of whether Gigaba had resigned or been removed from the committee.

READ | Gigaba quietly removed from parliamentary committee after ANC fracas

The ANC removed Gigaba from the committee at the end of September and replaced him with Nomasonto Evelyn Motaung. Gigaba was moved to the justice and constitutional development committee.

This paved the way for Friday’s meeting.

During Friday’s meeting, the EFF’s Carl Niehaus described Gigaba’s removal as “finally and correctly”. He claimed that Gigaba’s tenure was “untenable” and that it followed “more than a year of demands by the EFF”.

Gigaba, a former minister under both presidents Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa, served in various portfolios, including home affairs, finance and public enterprises.

He was added to the accused in a criminal case stemming from one of the biggest state capture scandals. He joined former Transnet executives Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh, Siyabonga Gama and Thamsanqa Jiyane in the dock. They were each charged with fraud and corruption related to a tender for 1 064 locomotives that cost the government more than R54 billion.

Niehaus announced that the EFF would abstain from voting, while Powell asked to check how many eligible MPs from the National Assembly were present in the meeting who could vote.

ANC MPs were quick to defend the party, and Pitso Noe claimed that opposition parties chose to blame it for the chaotic nature of the meeting in September.

He said:

It is immaturity, and it is undermining the ANC as an organisation.

After a back-and-forth between Niehaus and Noe, the committee voted for the new co-chair.

Hala received votes from the ANC, IFP and MKP, while Chris Hattingh received support from the DA.

During the meeting, Powell claimed that under power-sharing agreements for the government of national unity (GNU), the DA was supposed to be allocated the role of co-chair or chairperson of the defence committees. However, that had not occurred. She said even when Gigaba was elected and then removed, the ANC did not adhere to the agreement.

However, the co-chair of the committee, Phiroane Phala from the National Council of Provinces, said he could not answer questions about GNU-related matters, as “I was not informed”.

Powell must write to Didiza about this issue, said Phala.

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