SONA SHOWDOWN

President ready for red berets, parties blast disruption threats

A SHOWDOWN is on the cards between Parliament’s presiding officers and the EFF tomorrow over the threats by the latter to disrupt the State of the Nation Address (Sona).

This comes as Parliament confirmed a lockdown of the Cape Town CBD ahead of the Sona.

Security is expected to be on high alert in and around the parliamentary precinct tomorrow.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo did not mince their words yesterday, saying they would not allow any disruption of the proceedings.

The red berets have vowed to disrupt President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech over his failure to fire Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for misleading the Presidency over the Eskom load shedding crisis.

But Modise and Masondo insisted that the rules of the joint sitting of Parliament would be used to deal with disruptions.

Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the National Assembly will not tolerate the unrest as South Africans were anticipating to hear Ramaphosa outline plans for the country.

“Open threats to disrupt the work of Parliament, including the propagation of conspiracy theories, are not in the interests of the public.

“They serve only as attempts to distract Parliament from its work,” Mothapo said.

DA spokesperson on employment and labour Michael Cardo said the president urgently needs to deal with the jobs bloodbath in the country as the economy was already in a mess and state-owned entities were crumbling.

He said the latest figures by Statistics South Africa showed that the country’s economy was in dire straits – with unemployment sitting at 29.1%.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa urgently needs to announce a comprehensive action plan to address the unemployment crisis – and youth unemployment in particular – when he delivers his State of the Nation Address on Thursday night,” Cardo said.

Civil society organisations have also highlighted that Ramaphosa needed to clearly state his action plan while Cope (Congress of the People) and other political parties have blasted the EFF for its threat to disrupt the Sona, adding that Parliament could be held hostage by one party.

Meanwhile, a number of roads will be closed off from today until the end of Sona tomorrow evening.

According to Parliament, this will allow for security measures to be put in place.

| EPA THE EFF disrupts Parliament as president Jacob Zuma attempts to give his State of the Nation Address in 2016. The party has threatened to do the same with President Cyril Ramaphosa tomorrow evening.