Parliament – There were mixed reactions to President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address as Members of Parliament digested the violent scenes that played out in chambers before proceedings.
With MPs from three opposition parties having either walked out or been violently removed from the National Assembly, appreciation of the President’s speech took a back seat as Parliamentarians expressed concerns at the violence that has become a norm at joint settings of the house.
With the Democratic Alliance heading to court on Friday to challenge the actions that led to last year’s commotion, many MPs, include those in the ANC felt the situation could have been handled better.
Leader of the African Christian Democratic Party Kenneth Meshoe expressed his disappointment at the manner in which the presiding officers handled the situation.
“Really disappointed in it all, it was sad to see how the presiding officers allowed the disruptions to carry on for over an hour when they knew that was the plan all along.
“The way they dealt with William Madisha of COPE was unfair because other members of other political parties were allowed to raise points of orders many times and Madisha only spokes twice and he was thrown out. which I think is not a fair application of the rules.”
Reverend Meshoe also labelled the president’s speech as being full of promises that do not come to fruition.
“When we come to what the president said, every year he will tell the country government’s priority is to fight crime we hear that every year. Crime does not go down, government seems not to be doing anything about it. He will say we are fighting crime but what will he do differently from what he did the previous cycle,” he added.
“It’s one thing to say we are helping the families of those who lost mentally ill patients but what about the state of our hospitals and clinics. We still have many doctors and nurses who are complaining that they are working many hours and there are still hospitals without medications and he does not say what he is going to improve the status of our hospitals. So I was not impressed by lack of meat in what the president had to say.
But the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the president’s address touched on all relevant matters.
“I did not expect that one was going to get many surprises due to the state of the country and the state of the economy, but I think as a statement of intent, I don’t think one can fault him about the vision for the future. Especially the issue of the land, which is the most tangible form of investment and when he mentioned that particularly that people must accept land instead of money. I am worried because there are many people who have been given land but don’t use it properly.
“One is impressed by the achievement of the expanded public service programme where he said more than 2 million jobs created, but one realises we still have a long way to go. When he came to the economy itself, the stock exchanging and now only 10 percent of the businesses are black owned. I think as a whole he covered everything on where the country should be going and it was very impressive.”
The United Democratic Movement’s Nqabayomzi Kwakwa said: “There was nothing new in SONA, certain aspects can be described as sound that signified nothing because the number of the initiatives he talked about are initiatives he mentioned in the past but failed to implement.”
“Look at this one-stop-shop Invest SA, the president spoke about it last year but the first branch is only going to be opened this year.
“Radical economic transformation, he first mentioned it in 2014 and we are still trying to do it in 2017 and that is the most frustrating party and when it comes to dealing with the matters of collusion in the economy some of the initiatives he mentioned, saying they will improve manufacturing and take initiatives to try and drive it- the taste of the pudding will ultimately be in the tasting."
Kwankwa said the chaos that broke out in Parliament will only serve to discredit the institution for future leaders.
“My generations will have to mop up this mess, if we do things that will end up discrediting Parliament as an institution that makes decisions for the nation in the manner that we are doing,” he said.
“The unfortunate part is that this generation of the Jacob Zumas is actually on their way out, in a few years from now we will have to step up to the plate and we will be complaining about a Parliament that has lost its credibility.”
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said that although unfortunate, the events that unfolded in Parliament also showcased the robustness in the institution.
“We are a multiparty democracy and our constitution enshrines the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression. What we saw in Parliament [yesterday] when it began was people expressing their views without any fear, favour of prejudice
“But the rights we have must not violate the rights of others, there are almost 500 people there, when the Chairperson of the NCOP, Thandi Modise, she was affirming the rights of others to listen to the president giving the State of the Nation Address.
“What we saw there does not bode well where violence is being utilised as the chairperson of the NCOP has indicated she will make an investigation to see how the paper spray was used within corridor of Parliament.”
This followed a promise by Modise that an investigation would be conducted into how, pepper spray was used in the chamber following the removal of EFF members.
ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said they were happy with the president’s address which touched on the 12 points the party had earmarked as needing government’s urgent attention. These included land reform, economic transformation and investment in black owned businesses.