The South African Parliament has once shown the country and the world that not everything has to be serious business there.
Even during debates or a prestigious occasion such as the swearing-in of cabinet Ministers and their deputies, you are guaranteed some comedy and disbelief.
This time though it wasn’t scenes of Members of Parliament (MP’s) howling at each other, nor being dragged out by parliament’ security officers.
But it was over the word, ‘conscientiously.’
According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, the word means “taking care to do things carefully and correctly.”
It formed part of an oath of office that had to be read by ministers and their deputies, during a swearing in ceremony in parliament.
A video of the newly appointed Water and Sanitation Minister, Pemmy Majodina got Mzansi cracking up as she struggled to pronounce the word “conscientiously” when she was reading her oath.
This after she had just finished reading the oath in isiXhosa when Chief Justice Raymond Zondo requested her to repeat it in English, due to the unavailability of the isiXhosa one that he could not sign.
Majodina read her oath smoothly but had difficulty towards the end.
“I undertake to hold my office as a minister with honour and dignity, to be a true and faithful counsellor, not to divulge directly or indirectly any secret matter entrusted to me and further perform the functions of my office conscientiously,” she said as she mispronounced the word.
The National Assembly burst into laughter, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and his newly sworn-in deputy, Paul Mashatile.
Majodina then exclaimed “Idrama le,” in isiXhosa, which means “this is drama.”
She eventually got the word right, albeit with the help of Zondo.
Other MPs also had difficulty in pronouncing the word when reading their oath.
X users found it amusing and others confessed that they also found the word difficult to pronounce.
“I like her, she is very proud of her culture and her language and very energetic,” commented @Zenzele109039
@SESOTHO wrote “Sekgowaaaaa,” which means English and attached several laughing emojis.
The ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula was also not shy to admit that it showed him flames too.
“I had a difficulty myself to pronounce that word when I became a deputy Minister for the first time,’’ said Mbalula during a media briefing in Johannesburg as he flexed his muscles and pronounced it correctly.
