Mbete, Modise’s actions at Sona ‘puzzling’, ‘irrational’ – experts

Political analysts questioned the presiding officers' actions and the way opposition members were brutally removed from parliament.

Baleka Mbete in Parliament (Photo by Gallo Images / Foto24 / Denvor de Wee)

Parliament’s presiding officers for the State of the Nation address acted irrationally in ousting opposition MPs on Thursday night because they were raising valid points which they wanted debated in a democratic manner, a political analyst says.

Susan Booysen, who is professor of public policy at Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg, added: “They wanted to force debate on the president. Their action was profoundly democratic.

“But they were forced out in a horrendously brutal manner by security at the instruction of the presiding officers.

“It is totally puzzling that they [National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise] acted so irrationally.

“It was just amazing how they presided and reacted to the opposition.”

The intimidation of opposition politicians by parliamentary security staff and the unprecedented presence of the army and the police was also over the top.

“It is very sad for democracy in South Africa,” said Booysen.

The opposition members were elected as MPs and were within their rights to raise the issue of President Jacob Zuma’s alleged violation of the constitution, she said.

Another analyst, Somadoda Fikeni, said the “spectacle” removed the focus from the substance of the president’s address, which showed how parliament had degenerated to the lowest level.

“I am sure society would be divided between those angered by the president’s tactics to deploy the army and the police and those opposed to the stance of the Economic Freedom Fighters.

“They may agree that the president must be held accountable but not agree with the way the Economic Freedom Fighters was doing it,” Fikeni said.

Regarding the content of Zuma’s speech, Booysen said the ANC had repackaged what it had been saying for years without visible action towards fulfilling its promises.

“Everything has been repackaged as radical, but the president’s presentation was hardly radical in detail,” she said.

Booysen added that Zuma was vague on the subject of radical socioeconomic transformation.

Fikeni agreed the ANC talked but doesn’t act on socioeconomic transformation. “We have been waiting for this radical transformation for a long time,” he said.

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