The ceremony started at 10:30 earlier this morning and these elections mark the first sitting of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and this sitting follows after the National Assembly, had its first sitting also in Cape Town yesterday. Keny Motsamai, an EFF member who spent almost 28 years in jail for killing a white traffic officer in the North West, was also among those sworn in today.

Motsamai is a former military commander of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla) and the EFF earlier this year announced  it would send Motsamai to the NCOP as its delegate. While he was presiding over the NCOP’s swearing in ceremony, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng pointed out that Motsamai would be sworn in as one of the delegates as his crime was committed in 1989 and the constitution was only adopted in 1996.

Motsamai was 26 years old at the time of his conviction and had reportedly just returned from military training in Ethopia. He reportedly was convicted after he refused to apologize or show remorse for the murder. He was released on parole in January 2017, following which the parole was revoked in March last year after he violated parole conditions by travelling outside the magisterial district under false pretense. 

He was then incarcerated for three months, following which the detainment was then lifted after he attended programmes that sought to rehabilitate him so he doesn’t repeat the offence. He is currently on parole and was earlier today sworn in as a member of the NCOP. He now forms one of the 90 delegates of the NCOP, 54 of whom are permanent delegates and who all come from the nine provincial legislatures and will effectively serve as representative of these structures at national level.

OFM News