EFF, DA and Eskom major highlights in Sona
The Economic Freedom Fighters, Democratic Alliance and Eskom’s energy crisis were the highlights of a chaotic parliament which preceeded the state of the nation address on Thursday.
The 2015 state of the nation address (Sona) was interrupted early during President Jacob Zuma’s delivery. Shortly after he started his seventh Sona to parliament on Thursday evening proceedings were marred by disorder.
Chaos erupted when Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members disrupted Zuma’s speech by asking him when he will pay back the money used to upgrade his private Nkandla home.
EFF leader Julius Malema and his members refused to leave the house when instructed by Speaker Baleka Mbete. She then ordered parliamentary security officers to remove unruly EFF members from the proceedings.
The DA followed suit when parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane walked out of parliament. They protested because the Speaker didn’t reply to a question whether the security personnel who had removed EFF members were armed police officers.
Once calm was restored almost an hour after Zuma had initially started his address, proceedings continued without the major opposition parties.
Zuma emphasised the current electricity crisis, saying it was a challenge and government had established short, medium and long-term plans. “As a priority, we are going to stabilise Eskom’s finances to enable the utility to manage the current period. In this regard, government will honour its commitment to give Eskom around R23 billion in the next fiscal year.”
He said given the high cost of diesel, Eskom has been directed to switch from diesel to gas as a source of energy. Zuma also encouraged households to switch from electricity to gas stoves, for heating and other uses.
“With regards to the long term energy master plan, we will pursue gas, petroleum, nuclear, hydropower and other sources as part of the energy mix,” he said.
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