Celebrating Illegality Is How Democracies Die: The Case of Nelly Mutti and Bill 7
By Thandiwe Ketiš Ngoma
I do not understand how anyone, least of all leaders entrusted with public power, can celebrate an illegality engineered by the president and enforced through state machinery. When abuse of power is applauded, democracy is not merely wounded; it is deliberately undermined.
The celebration by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti, after the passing of Bill 7 was not only inappropriate; it was dangerous. Watching the Speaker dance on the floor of Parliament, clad in her robe, while an illegal process was being completed symbolised the capture of an institution meant to defend the people.
What is expected of the Speaker of the National Assembly is unwavering neutrality, constitutional fidelity, and institutional dignity. The Speaker is not a partisan actor but the guardian of parliamentary integrity, tasked with protecting due process, ensuring fair debate, and shielding the House from executive overreach. In moments of constitutional controversy, the Speaker should project restraint, seriousness, and respect for the rule of law, not celebration. The authority of the office derives from impartiality, and when that impartiality is abandoned, the credibility of Parliament itself is placed at risk.
Let us be clear. The Constitutional Court had already found the initiation process of Bill 7 unconstitutional. That ruling should have brought the matter to an end. Instead, the executive chose to defy constitutional principles and force the same bill back into Parliament, using intimidation, loyalty, and state machinery to secure its passage.
To the Members of Parliament who voted for Bill 7, do not deceive yourselves. You did not exercise control. You helped build the machinery of oppression. Once built, that machinery does not need your consent. It will not ask for permission. It will be turned against democratic freedoms and, one day perhaps, against you.
An illegal process cannot give birth to a legal law. Bill 7 is poisonous.
Dictatorship does not arrive with tanks. It arrives with applause, celebration, and silence in the face of injustice.