No EFF but ATM says they won’t hold back at Sona

African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyolwethu Zungula has said he will not hold back on his words if he feels like expressing himself at the State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Cape Town on Thursday.

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Zungula has earned himself the title of Parliament’s young lion for his boldness and ability to challenge the executive on different occasions such as during Parliamentary Debates, Questions and Answer sessions or presidential addresses.

New parliamentary rules

In an interview with The Citizen, Zungula said he understood that the rules of parliament had been amended to ensure that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not disturbed while delivering the Sona.

But he said parliamentarians had bot been consulted on these amendments to the rules.  

“Unfortunately, I have not seen the new rules and this is another thing that we are handicapped by the rules were made in secret and they were not done with the buy-in of all members of parliament,” he said.

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Despite this Zungula said he would speak out if there was something that he felt he wanted to raise.

“If needs be we are going to express ourselves fully,” he said.

Zungula said it was clear that the amendments that had been made to the rules of parliament were there to protect the ANC and Ramaphosa from being held accountable.

 “It is clear those rules are there to make parliament a space where the president is unchallenged in terms of what he does in parliament and they forget that the president accounts to parliament. It is not parliament that should be subservient to the president,” Zungula said.

Heightened security

Zungula said he was also aware that there would extra security at the Cape Town City Hall where the Sona will take place in anticipation of any disruptions.

“There is always extra security we saw it even last year. We are becoming these countries where members of parliament are intimidated from what they should be doing,” he said.

One party that will not be in attendance will be the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) after a party-wide boycott in solidarity with their leaders who were suspended and cannot attend Sona.