Justice minister accused of threatening to throw bottle at AR’s Kambala

Justice and labour relations minister Wise Immanuel has been forced to withdraw what was perceived as a threat in parliament aimed at Affirmative Repositioning (AR) member of parliament George Kambala.

This happened on Wednesday during a debate on the oil exploration and production amendment bill that would shift certain petroleum powers to the Presidency.

Immanuel was contributing to the discussion on the bill when he was repeatedly interrupted by the opposition during proceedings.

Immanuel told Kambala “please keep quiet”.

“I don’t want to throw this at you,” he told him as he lifted a water bottle from his bench.

Some members of parliament laughed.

AR leader Job Amupanda raised a point of order after what he interpreted as a physical threat.

“I don’t know if the minister said that he wants to throw a bottle at one of the members. Naturally, if any of our members are hurt, I will be the first one to receive that throw,” he said.

National Assembly speaker Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila ruled that the comment was inappropriate and demanded a withdrawal.

Immanuel denied any wrong doing.

“I speak English. Kambala was throwing words at me, and I threw them back to him. I never said that. It can be replayed,” he said.

“If you don’t protect us, we will protect ourselves”, Immanuel said to the speaker.

Kambala questioned whether the remark was made “on a lighter note” or constituted a threat, saying that such language had no place in parliament.

Although the minister withdrew his remarks, interjections still followed in parliament.

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