President Jacob Zuma managed to deliver the state of the nation address last night amid points of order and political parties walking out.
Before Zuma could even make it to the podium, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ deputy president Floyd Shivambu stood up to ask the speaker, Baleka Mbete, to clarify why some of the rules were suspended for the night. That started a chain reaction of EFF MPs standing up to ask questions.
After about 20min of toing and froing, Zuma started his speech. But before it could gain momentum, Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota stood up and said “the honourable president has already admitted before our nation in the Constitutional Court that he broke his oath of office. He broke his oath of office, he is not in the position to deliver the state (of the nation address) and we cannot listen to someone who broke his oath of office.
“He is no longer fit to lead our people,” he added.
Ordered to leave the chamber, Lekota bowed and left.
That was not the end of the drama. The EFF continued with points of order and were also ordered to leave the house.
But before all this happened, the streets of Cape Town were marred with protests from various groups, including the #ZumaMustFall movement.
The police were on high alert and reports of stun grenades being fired at protesters surfaced.