The farce that happened in Parliament made for great entertainment. It’s the kind of plot twist that belongs in a TV series, not in real politics where democracy itself and political livelihoods are at stake.
The video that went viral has made South Africa an international joke. Only it’s not particularly funny. The entertainment value might last for a bit, but after this President Zuma’s antics could even last longer.
While the EFF wanted to raise a pertinent issue, the manner in which they carried out their little tirade detracted from the serious issue of the President’s alleged corruption. The chaos the EFF members caused only served to let President Zuma stay nicely below the radar, again avoiding accountability.
Madame Speaker’s incessant ‘honourable this and honourable that’ was quite an irony. The moment you remove a parliamentary leader by force is the moment the title becomes redundant. On one hand she chose to uphold the titles yet had blatant disregard for protocol when it came to requesting the removal of the EFF members. The Speaker used police to do the removing whilst it was actually the duty of Parliamentary Security (as raised by the DA’s Mmusi Maimane right after the last red hard hat was being dragged out).
While the EFF’s behaviour was shocking, ending in violence being inflicted on them by the cops, the rest of the ANC chamber members were not much better. Understandably members were standing up to get a better look at the chaos, but the shouting and clapping that ensued from ANC parliamentarians showed their gleeful enjoyment of the circus.
While for once the Sona was somewhat more entertaining than usual, all it means for South Africa is there could be worse to come. The DA’s efforts to defend the Constitution and stave off the ANC’s wilful violation of its principles are therefore imperative.
That the ANC is incapable of running the Sona properly is no surprise considering it has a propensity for not delivering.
On the bright side at least we had electricity during the Sona.
