Parliament is investigating how to make sure Members of Parliament (MPs) take personal responsibility for comments on social media that might amount to libel or defamation.
African National Congress (ANC) member Cedrick Frolick, the house chairman responsible for committees, has been selected to draft a social media policy that will lay down guidelines for what is acceptable to tweet.
Many of South Africa's heavyweight politicians take to social media sites to share their opinions on current affairs, their oppositions and other controversial matters. Although utterings from the likes of Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille - who is not an MP - might trigger anger or interest, politicians who are MPs may have to face the law for taking matters too far.
MPs are protected against civil lawsuits by parliamentary privilege, which allows them to share their opinions and even make accusations while in Parliament. However, the issue has now arisen as to whether the same protection applies to postings on social media sites. There is currently no policy in place monitoring what ministers post on social media sites.
Recently, DA Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko stepped on a few ANC toes after a controversial tweet from Parliament during a National Assembly sitting regarding Ruth Bhengu's involvement in a debate on Gauteng's e-tolls.
Earlier this month, Mazibuko tweeted: "To defend Gauteng e-toll legislation in Parliament, ANC sends Ruth Bengu, an MP convicted in Parliament's notorious 'travel-gate' scandal."
However, as no policy is in place and the only rules that currently apply stem from the boundaries set by parliamentary privilege, there is no clear cut method to deal with such incidents.
Nanny state
Responding to the establishment of a policy to monitor MPs' tweets, Mazibuko says she, along with the DA, would support a policy, although it is unnecessary.
"It's a process and I would surely welcome that. As the DA we take social media very seriously. We encourage the public to utilise social media and engage with us."
However, Mazibuko argues there is no need for such a policy. "Parliament is a public platform; you can even watch National Assembly sittings on TV, so there should be no limitations on what can be said. It is thus unacceptable for MPs not to be able to tweet.
"The law does apply to social media. I don't think we need to add more laws - it's overkill," adds Mazibuko.
Paul Jacobson, Web and digital media lawyer and director of Web.Tech.Law, says the firm is looking into how the policy would fit in with parliamentary privilege and the ramifications of such a policy.
Share