THE parliament has condemned four MPs for a picture that appeared to be making fun of Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s problems with his shoulder. Matekane is on leave after a shoulder operation.
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The Revolution for Prosperity (RFP)’s Thuso Makhalanyane posed for the picture with the Democratic Congress (DC)’s Mootsi Lehata, Thabiso Lekitla and Hlalele Letšaba.
They were showing their right arms, which appeared to be mocking Matekane whose shoulder operation had just been announced.
The picture immediately went viral on social media.
Mokhethoaneng MP, Mokhothu Makhalanyane, said the MPs disrespected the prime minister. “I was embarrassed of those MPs who decided to appear disrespectful to the Prime Minister,” Makhalanyane said.
“This is not a matter of jokes. We cannot play games with each other’s health.”
Speaker Tlohang Sekhamane said MPs “should refrain from playing with each other’s health”. Sekhamane said.
Thuso Makhalanyane used his Facebook page to apologise for appearing in the picture.
“Sometimes politics looks like a devil’s business. I never thought there was a hidden agenda when they asked me to appear in the picture,” he said, adding that he would not mock his leader.
The DC’s secretary general Tšitso Cheba, who is also the Makhoroana MP, told the parliament that the three MPs from his party were not mocking Matekane.
“We did not even know that the Prime Minister was sick,” Cheba said.
Nkheli Liphoto
