Africa-Press – South-Africa. Disruptions again delayed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s budget speech as he had to watch on as rowdy MPs were removed from the Parliamentary chamber.
On Friday morning, Ramaphosa had to wait three hours before he could deliver a reply to the debate on the Presidency’s budget.
Seconds after Ramaphosa started his speech, EFF MP Sinawo Tambo raised a point of order.
Over the past two days, the EFF employed the same tactic to create chaos and prevent Ramaphosa from addressing the National Assembly.
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Tambo insisted Ramaphosa could not address the National Assembly and that the “same mistakes” were made under former president Jacob Zuma.
National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Tambo had a back-and-forth, which saw EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi also getting involved.
Mkhaliphi was then later removed from the virtual platform that links MPs to the chamber. Her removal came after she repeatedly raised a point of order questioning why Tambo’s point was not acted upon.
Soon after Mkhaliphi’s exit, another rowdy EFF MP, Primrose Sonti, was removed from the virtual platform.
Tambo and his colleague Naledi Chirwa were removed from the chamber after repeatedly raising points of order.
As they were removed, a massive fight broke out between EFF MPs and security officials.
Before her exit, Chirwa claimed security officials grabbed the private parts of female MPs who had been removed.
Mapisa-Nqakula then suspended proceedings due to the chaos that erupted.
EFF MP Babalwa Mathulelwa was violently removed from the chamber. She had a physical fight with three female security officers who pushed her out the door.
As the scuffle continued, Mathulelwa knocked into benches and chairs.
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When proceedings resumed, the removal of EFF MPs continued.
This time around, many left the chamber peacefully, but EFF MP Mothusi Montwedi had a violent encounter with security staff.
Four security officers surrounded Montwedi, who fought back, but as reinforcements came in, he was carried out. As he was being pulled out, several other EFF MPs threw bottles of water at officers.
At the end of the address, Mapisa-Nqakula spoke of the violence that occurred earlier in the day.
She said it had never happened in Parliament before.
“We do not need this. We do not need to be labelling one another,” she said.
Wrapping up his speech, Ramaphosa said the debate was lively despite the disruptions.
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