Our Parliament has been turned into a circus, it’s a fiasco
THE chaotic scenes during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Question and Answer session at the National Assembly is a reflection of the miserable state of our politics.
Insults, fisticuffs, name-calling and lewd gestures were all par for the course in our Parliament. Even Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba played his part in the inanities with a suggestive gesture about the size of EFF MP Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi’s manhood. This after the latter had suggested to Ramaphosa to provide cabinet ministers with mobile phones without cameras and which cannot be hacked.
During the scuffles, Julius Malema called the DA’s John Steenhuisen a “racist white boy” after the latter had referred to EFF MPs as “VBS looters”.
The EFF has shown itself as a bunch of intolerants who have nothing to offer to South Africa except hooliganism and narrow nationalism.
It must be said that order was restored following Ramaphosa’s response to ANC MP Makhubela Mashele about how the government plans to address the problem of ethnic chauvinism and narrow nationalism.
In his response, Ramaphosa brought back a semblance of house decorum when he alluded to the need for the acceleration of efforts towards social cohesion and nation-building. I say, that throughout its almost 25 years in governance, the ANC has not made a dent on social cohesion and nation-building as the current racial polarisation bears witness.
What has become clear is that South Africa needs an alternative political party that will owe allegiance to the people of South Africa regardless of their race, culture or religion. As things stand, the ANC cannot be trusted to take the country forward as they grapple with their own internal dynamics.
The DA is still seen rightly or wrongly as a party that represents minority interests. The Patricia de Lille saga and how it was handled also added to the woes. The EFF, for its part, continues to write itself into irrelevance due to its brand of politics that combines brashness, arrogance, intolerance and narrow nationalism.
It is time that prominent members of the different racial groupings in South Africa gather to lead a dialogue that will culminate in the formation of a political party that can hopefully save the country from the chaotic scenes witnessed in Parliament.
That is what South Africa needs urgently.
NATHANIEL LEE Klipspruit, Soweto