South Africa’s parliament descended into chaos on Thursday as law makers from the opposition party were removed by force after disrupting Jacob Zuma’s annual address, an unprecedented sign of discontent at his administration.
The President’s first State of the Nation speech since his re-election last May had been billed as an opportunity to highlight the achievements of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its plans for the year ahead.
But he received a hostile reception from lawmakers from the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by firebrand former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, who started to challenge him about graft allegations. Zuma had barely begun speaking when EFF members began interrupting, demanding to ask the president about when he would repay part of a $23 million state-funded security upgrade of his rural home.
A clearly angry Speaker, Baleka Mbete, warned several EFF members to sit down before ordering they be removed by security officers, prompting a brief brawl in which several people were injured, witnesses said. “We have seen that we are part of a police state,” Malema, whose T-shirt was torn in the fracas, told reporters after being bundled out of parliament in a scrum.
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