EFF’s behaviour does not reflect SA’s character, says Zuma
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma yesterday condemned the chaotic scenes in Parliament on Thursday, saying they did not reflect the character of the country.
He was backed by Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Buti Manamela, who said the EFF’s agenda was to gain publicity for the next elections.
Zuma said the behaviour of the EFF did not reflect the character of the country, and the party did not represent the majority views of South Africans.
He said the country could not afford to be held to ransom by the behaviour of a few MPs.
Manamela said the issue was not about the EFF not wanting Zuma, but a strategy to gain political mileage.
He said the people of South Africa expressed their political will through a democratic process and the country would not allow the EFF to subvert the democratic process.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu called for serious action against the EFF. He said Parliament must charge the EFF criminally and also discipline them. Mthembu said the EFF was abusing the constitution to disrupt proceedings in Parliament.
He said the EFF was misinterpreting the judgment of the Constitutional Court on Nkandla. “If they thought we breached the constitution they would have long gone to the Constitutional Court,” he said.
Media analytics and insights company BrandsEye evaluated South African social media users’ opinions on Zuma’s address.
They found there was an increase in the number of authors of 23.2% from 48 245 in 2016 to 59 474 this year.
They said there was “a surprise decline in the volume of negative conversation”. Last year Zuma had been criticised for not speaking about Nenegate or Nkandla. “This year, people were mostly just critical towards him, in general, saying nothing he says can help him regain his credibility.
“No one expected to hear anything meaningful and thus expectations were ‘met’ in this regard. A general sense of apathy pervaded the conversation, with Zuma lacking the credibility to drive emotion either way.”
The most negative topic was Zuma laughing as he started his speech, but the most tweeted negative quote of the night was the EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi’s statement: “Zuma is a delinquent!”
The behaviour of the EFF during the address was also a prominent topic of discussion, with a split on whether it was positive or negative.
There was a high volume of comments related to the forced removal of the EFF, with many feeling this was unlawful. Citizens also felt that after the EFF members were removed, the address became boring and was not worth watching.
Last night, parliamentary spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said eight officials of the Parliamentary Protection Services were injured on Thursday night and were receiving medical and counselling services.
The officials were beaten with plastic hats and bricks and were punched, he said.