The Democratic Alliance (DA) has appointed Glynnis Breytenbach as its new chief whip in the National Assembly, citing her extensive parliamentary and legal experience as making her “a perfect candidate for this role.”
Breytenbach will also lead the DA’s members serving on the Phala Phala impeachment committee, though she clarified that parliamentary leader George Michalakis will head the team. “I have very experienced colleagues on that team… quite clearly he will lead the team,” she said.
In an interview following her appointment, Breytenbach addressed multiple pressing issues, including a “monumental mess up” in Mpumalanga involving prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba, who failed to appear in court despite being ordered to be present.
“He doesn’t have the choice then of not being there,” Breytenbach said. “You can’t have an instance where a case is in court and everyone is there and there is no prosecutor. That is so unacceptable. It’s almost unimaginable.”
She noted concerns about potential threats to the prosecutor, referencing recent violence against whistleblowers. “We have unfortunately over the last few weeks and months seen a very ugly side of corruption in the criminal justice system… many whistleblowers and important witnesses just murdered, shot in cold blood. It’s unfortunately not unthinkable that something could have happened to him.”
If the prosecutor is healthy and well, Breytenbach said, “he has a lot to answer for” and faces contempt of court. “If he has been bribed, well then he must face the same kind of justice that everyone else faces. There’s nowhere to hide for corrupt prosecutors.”
On the impeachment committee, Breytenbach confirmed she has heard “corridor talk that the president is considering interdicting the committee,” noting that “the only way to stop it is to get an interdict.”
Asked whether the DA has become too friendly with the ANC following coalition cooperation, Breytenbach responded emphatically: “Hell no. Most definitely not. The Democratic Alliance is constantly acting in the best interests of South Africa… We have robustly maintained our own identity and remain true to our own principles.”
She added: “We’re not there to do a witch hunt. We’re not there to protect anybody. We’re there to ascertain the facts and make an appropriate finding on the facts.”
Federal leader John Steenhuisen, she said, “has made it very clear that the Democratic Alliance will never ever protect any wrongdoing, that we’re a party of constitutionality and the rule of law.”