SONA 2015

Things could not have gone worse for President Jacob Zuma last night. He will look into a mirror this morning and feel desperately embarrassed.

His lack of leadership skills has never been exposed to the extent that it was during the State of the Nation (Sona) speech. In fact, it reached an all-time low.

It was widely expected that Malema and his band of brothers would try to disrupt his address, but few people would have contemplated the fiasco that was set to unfold. It seemed as if Zuma and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete were not prepared for a very obvious EFF strategy, and it was Mbete again who allowed the National Assembly to degenerate into chaos.

The controversy started even prior to this. The use of a signal jammer to disrupt communication within Parliament is a clear contravention of the Constitution. So is the apparent use of security forces to remove the EFF members from the chamber.

It is critical that these events are investigated and the names of those individuals who authorised it, are made public.

But the most notable event of the Sona 2015 was Zuma himself. The fact that he did absolutely nothing during the chaos is telling. It was the ideal opportunity for him to take the stage and to do what leaders do. But what did he do? He did nothing.

He had the ideal opportunity to have a massive go at the EFF to label them hooligans. He had the ideal opportunity to show that Malema was a cheap opportunist that has no disregard for parliamentary protocol.

But Zuma did not have the guts to do this. He chose to do nothing. (I am pretty sure this chaos would definitely not have happened under the late Nelson Mandela, nor under Thabo Mbeki.)

Believe it or not, Zuma made it even worse when he took the podium again.

Instead of acting like a head of state, he coughed his famous chuckle and nervously continued to read his prepared speech. It was very ironic that the first few paragraphs he read was the announcement that all schools will in future practice the national anthem of the African Union.

Boy, this is embarrassing.

The actual speech

The rest of Zuma’s address was pretty much as hollow as his handling of the EFF confrontation.

He did not announce any new project of any significance, but merely continued with the “South Africa has a good story to tell” rhetoric. He did identify the current Eskom crisis as the strongest headwind blowing, but he offered no major solution apart from “we are doing all we can” to solve the problem.

He also referred to the National Development Plan in passing. In fact, he referred on more than five occasions to “Operation Phakisa” as a key plan to improve economic growth in the country. I am pretty sure that many MPs would have Googled “Operation Phakisa” last night (I did) to see what this plan is all about. I can see the frowns as this plan largely focuses on the “ocean economy”, which in South Africa’s current economic environment is nothing more than a novelty plan.

The ramifications of the Sona 2015 will resound throughout the year. Zuma’s leadership has reached an all-time low. The only occasion when he looked up and deviated from his prepared speech, was when he mocked the poor performance of Bafana Bafana during the recent Africa Cup of Nations.

I hope Sona is a turning point for South African politics. It was not only a major embarrassment for South Africa, but also for the ANC.

The time is now for the ANC to recall Zuma and to replace him with Cyril Ramaphosa. It is as simple as that.
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http://today.moneyweb.co.za/article.php?id=812841&cid=2015-02-13#.VN3kICzy1Zo
 
I see there are pockets of protests flaring up everywhere in the City, currently EFF dancing outside.

Saw the DA in Burg street as well.
 
ambroseg1 said:
Funny until it (being abused/manhandled by silly small dick syndrome cops) happens to you one day. That day is also not as far away as you may think.
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Well I'm white. So the chances of me getting into parliament to be harassed by cops are zero :D
 
SACP CONDEMNS SONA DISRUPTION

The SACP on Friday condemned the disruptions during President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation address in Parliament and said it supported the presiding officer's actions to stop it.

"The [SA Communist Party] calls for new preventive and responsive measures to bring to an end the abuse and misuse of Parliament, to disrupt its mandate and hold back the advance of the democratic, social and economic transformation of our country," spokesman Alex Mashilo said in a statement.

"The counter-productive behaviour of disrupting the work of our democratically elected Parliament and government accountability can only be the work of those who are not interested to see South Africa move forward."

Three Economic Freedom Fighters MPs, including party leader Julius Malema, were told to leave the House after they persisted in trying to question Zuma about misspending on his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, after he started delivering his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday.

Security officers were called in to escort the MPs out of the National Assembly.

The Democratic Alliance walked out shortly afterwards in protest against the security officers' presence in the National Assembly Chamber.

Zuma then resumed his speech.

The SACP welcomed Zuma's tabling of the address despite the "right-wing alliance of the forces of counter-revolution" leaving the House.

The Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) said Thursday was a sad day for the country's democracy.

"Political leaders in Parliament need to urgently reflect on the implications, both political and constitutional, of what occurred during the joint sitting of Parliament," it said in a statement.

"They need to account for what transpired and provide solutions so that ordinary people can be assured that our democratic foundations are not being permanently eroded."

Casac believed a number of constitutional transgressions needed attention, including the jamming of the cellphone signal before proceedings began, and the EFF's disruption of proceedings.

Casac said the EFF had abused parliamentary rules to the point where the constitutional rights of other MPs and Zuma were infringed on.

"While it is certainly important to recognise that the rights to free speech, and the privileges of all MPs must be carefully protected... so it follows that this principle applies across the House to all MPs.

"To deny the president this opportunity [to account to Parliament on his government's programme] is to undermine the accountability function of Parliament," it said.

However, Casac also recognised that Zuma had not yet provided adequate answers to questions about Nkandla.

"This, too, represents a failure in constitutional accountability that must be urgently rectified by the president."

Casac also wanted the identity of the security officers who removed the EFF MPs to be made public.

Agri SA said the chaos which erupted in Parliament was indicative of the mounting frustration experienced by a number of South Africans.

"It was... an opportunity missed to inspire South Africans and investors about our country's prospects."

It said Zuma's reference to agriculture and land in his address was a further example of utterances which undermined confidence and had a detrimental impact on the economy.

"Agri SA will seek urgent clarification from government regarding the interpretation of the relevant proposals, also how they envisage the implementation thereof, bearing in mind limited funding and capacity.

"Although Agri SA will also consider steps to test the legality of the proposals, which at face value could be unconstitutional, the organisation will continue to hold discussions with the government in this regard," it said.

Zuma announced new proposals on land such as a ceiling on land ownership and a stop to foreign ownership.


Source : Sapa /gq/cls/jk/ks
Date : 13 Feb 2015 13:53
 
Garyvdh said:
DA DEMANDS SPEAKER BE HELD TO ACCOUNT

Security forces had no right to forcibly remove all EFF MPs from Parliament on Thursday night, the DA said, and demanded that Speaker Baleka Mbete be held to account for the incident.

Democratic Alliance chief whip John Steenhuisen made the point at a media briefing on Friday that the majority of Economic Freedom Fighters MPs were not ordered out of the National Assembly by Mbete, yet were "kicked, beaten, pummelled and carted away like cattle".

Referring to Reneilwe Mashabela, he said: "Yesterday [Thursday], one of the ladies from the EFF was kicked against a table in the most brutal manner."

Steenhuisen claimed Mbete had called in armed police who were "trained to deal with thugs", instead of asking parliamentary protection officers to remove the EFF MPs she ordered to leave the Chamber.

He said this violated the constitutional separation of powers, as the police reported to the executive, and that she should be called before Parliament's powers and privileges committee.

"It is a slippery slope away from constitutional democracy."

Three EFF MPs, including party leader Julius Malema, were told to leave the House after they persisted in trying to question Zuma about misspending on his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, during his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday night.

Maimane said the DA was taking legal advice and would seek a court order explicitly barring presiding officers from calling the police into the National Assembly because legislation may not be clear enough in this regard.

The DA walked out in protest before Zuma resumed his speech, but Maimane stressed that this was in protest at police being called, and not in support of the EFF's actions.

"I think the actions of the EFF were wrong. If the ruling concludes that your point of order is not appropriate, in my view you should accept that ruling and you need to, if you are asked to leave the Chamber, you need to be able to do that yourself."
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So let me get this clear, these politically toothless bulldogs will now seek to open cases and raise arguments which will rely pretty much entirely on the testimony of the victimised EFF heroes, and you expect us to be witnesses to that?

Niphambene!
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Tom Eaton ‏@TomEatonSA 1h1 hour ago
Serious question. Is Zuma a psychopath? Charismatic, manipulative, feels no shame, entirely focused on personal gain. Is he the real deal?
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so I ask the question again - seriously.

How many millions would it take for you to go through what Jacob Zuma's going through?

I think he's laughing at everybody.
 
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Dubes said:
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And what exactly did COSATU do? Is it merely coincidental that they've been "split" and Vavi's wings clipped with Sdumo Dlamini the primary puppet put in charge? Willie Madisha was pushed pushed into COPE's arms as well before that.

Having said all of that, ANC isn't even 5% towards anything Apartheid did so we're still cool there.
 
ZCFOutkast said:
And what exactly did COSATU do? Is it merely coincidental that they've been "split" and Vavi's wings clipped with Sdumo Dlamini the primary puppet put in charge? Willie Madisha was pushed pushed into COPE's arms as well before that.

Having said all of that, ANC isn't even 5% towards anything Apartheid did so we're still cool there.
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Long walk, short pier.
 
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