A SUGGESTION to remove the freedom of sexual orientation clause from the Constitution has caused a stir in Parliament with the speaker of the National Assembly calling for the recusal of the co-chairman of the constitutional review committee regarded as an anti-gay proponent.
In a letter sent to ANC MP Patekile Holomisa in August, Max Sisulu requested he step down before submissions from the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders to amend the specific clause in the Bill of Rights were heard.
"You will appreciate that your membership of the National House of Traditional Leaders could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Consideration could therefore be given to your recusal when the matter serves before the committee," wrote Sisulu.
However, Holomisa and his co-chair, Bafumani Aaron Mnguni, have denied any involvement in the House of Traditional Leaders.
"I think the speaker was ill-informed, I'm not a member of the NHTL," said Holomisa.
Mnguni said: "I think the speaker went overboard to say the chief [Holomisa] must recuse himself. Nkosi Holomisa is not part of the House of Traditional Leaders, he is the president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA. We will draft the letter [to the speaker] as soon as possible," he said.
Sisulu's spokesman, Luzuko Jacobs, said communication between the speaker and committee was an internal matter.
Sisulu's letter followed a submission from gay rights lobby group the SA Constitution Protection Coalition.
The organisation, which represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) citizens, claims that Holomisa had not lived up to the responsibilities in his committee by accepting the proposal from his "peers" in the NHTL.
However, Mnguni considering the submission to exclude the clause was merely an administrative exercise.
Holomisa said it was the right of any organisation or individual to make submissions and to oppose them.
"Those who support homosexuality will have to be given an opportunity as well as those who are opposed it," he said.
However, Eugene Brockman from the SA Constitution Protection Coalition said the damage caused was irreparable.
Speaker asks Holomisa to recuse himself from gay rights debate
A SUGGESTION to remove the freedom of sexual orientation clause from the Constitution has caused a stir in Parliament with the speaker of the National Assembly calling for the recusal of the co-chairman of the constitutional review committee regarded as an anti-gay proponent.
In a letter sent to ANC MP Patekile Holomisa in August, Max Sisulu requested he step down before submissions from the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders to amend the specific clause in the Bill of Rights were heard.
"You will appreciate that your membership of the National House of Traditional Leaders could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Consideration could therefore be given to your recusal when the matter serves before the committee," wrote Sisulu.
However, Holomisa and his co-chair, Bafumani Aaron Mnguni, have denied any involvement in the House of Traditional Leaders.
"I think the speaker was ill-informed, I'm not a member of the NHTL," said Holomisa.
Mnguni said: "I think the speaker went overboard to say the chief [Holomisa] must recuse himself. Nkosi Holomisa is not part of the House of Traditional Leaders, he is the president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA. We will draft the letter [to the speaker] as soon as possible," he said.
Sisulu's spokesman, Luzuko Jacobs, said communication between the speaker and committee was an internal matter.
Sisulu's letter followed a submission from gay rights lobby group the SA Constitution Protection Coalition.
The organisation, which represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) citizens, claims that Holomisa had not lived up to the responsibilities in his committee by accepting the proposal from his "peers" in the NHTL.
However, Mnguni considering the submission to exclude the clause was merely an administrative exercise.
Holomisa said it was the right of any organisation or individual to make submissions and to oppose them.
"Those who support homosexuality will have to be given an opportunity as well as those who are opposed it," he said.
However, Eugene Brockman from the SA Constitution Protection Coalition said the damage caused was irreparable.
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