South Africa's Parliament has a knack for napping parliamentarians and the situation does not seem to be getting any better. It almost seems as if there is an unspoken rule that naps are mandatory as a means of rejuvenation to run the country.
The term "sleepists" was coined by Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). MPs sleeping on the job is sadly not a new thing, with many tweeps saying that our MPs get paid to sleep.
MPs used to sleep in parliament... Thats true. 'Ba gola ba robetse'...they earning salaries while sleeping. #EFFManifesto
— Abuti Neo (@Neo_ChiX) April 30, 2016
@City_Press@andiMakinana :MPs don't deserve salary increase their salaries are already too high they are just sleeping in parliament.
— Cornelius Moshane (@corneymosh) March 11, 2016
It seems the EFF did South Africa a solid in ensuring that all sleepists are called out on their shenanigans and step up to doing what they were called to do.
Here are some of the instances where MPs have taken a quick nap on the job:
@ANCMPS As opposed to sitting in parliament and sleeping like many ANC MPs do? cc @jsteenhuisenpic.twitter.com/UR6xZwTrlF
— I am an African 🇿🇦 (@Clint_ZA) November 23, 2015
And of course, our eternal fave -- Dr "People's Bae" Ndlozi has ensured that Parliament is not a house of sleepists...
It isn't enough that ministers sleep [on the job] during the Parliamentary proceedings, but it seems our very own Number One -- President Jacob Zuma -- has also dozed off in Parly.
It is unacceptable for our public servants to fall asleep on the job. Naps are great -- but not at work, folks! It is time for Parliament to stay awake and fulfill its mandate.