Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema told National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete on Tuesday that they will take her to court over her refusal to recuse herself from the debate on the removal of President Jacob Zuma from office.

"You shall receive court papers," Malema said. "You are conflicted... You are going to lose with costs, and you are costing Parliament a lot of money."

Mbete initially suspended the National Assembly sitting at 14:35 on Tuesday for 10 minutes for chief whips to meet about whether she should remove herself from the proceedings. The break lasted more than an hour. The House is set to debate the removal of Zuma from office, and before the break opposition MPs called for Mbete to recuse herself.

This, opposition parties said, was because she had been a respondent in the Constitutional Court case against Zuma.

The debate follows last week’s Constitutional Court ruling that Zuma failed to uphold the Constitution when he did not comply with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's remedial action regarding the non-security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead. It ruled that the National Assembly also failed to uphold the Constitution when it set aside Madonsela's report.