Two more Zuma Sonas 'will be a nightmare' – Maimane

10th February 2017 By: News24Wire

Two more Zuma Sonas 'will be a nightmare' – Maimane

DA leader Mmusi Maimane
Photo by: Reuters

President Jacob Zuma still has two more state of the nation addresses to deliver before his term ends in 2019.

And that is going to be a nightmare, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane said on Friday.

Addressing media on the DA's plan to head to court following yet another violent State of the Nation Address (Sona), Maimane said South Africans deserved a new government.

Sona was a wake-up call and the mission to remove the African National Government (ANC) government was more urgent than ever, he said.

Zuma has indicated he will not be available for a third term. And while the party elects a new president two years before the country goes to the polls to vote, Zuma will remain the country's president until 2019, unless the ANC decides otherwise.

"Two more of these Sonas. It's going to be a nightmare," Maimane said.

Rules flouted

He said Speaker Baleka Mbete did not follow the rules on Thursday during the sitting.

This included the removal of all Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs, when only a few had been called by name and asked to leave the chamber.

He again accused her of being focused on the party and not Parliament, where members of a political party were beaten up.

"There is a big difference between removing and beating up people. And the ANC are proud of those actions."

The rules were completely flouted, Maimane said.

"She has not capacitated Parliament to remove people in a dignified manner," he said.

This was the third year that Zuma's Sona was delayed by more than an hour as EFF MPs clashed with the Speaker over allowing him to speak.

The party has called for him to be banned from speaking in Parliament and has repeatedly expressed its intentions not to let him address the House.