South Africa Parliament Opposition Leader Julius Malema Kicked Out Of The Chamber By Armed Police For Tackling President Zuma.

South Africa’s parliament erupted in violence on Thursday after opposition MPs were forced from the chamber by armed police when they challenged President Jacob Zuma over a corruption scandal.

As parliamentarians threw punches, hats, leather cushions and desks, the live television signal to the chamber was cut and phone signals were jammed.
Several MPs were taken to hospital with minor injuries, and remaining opposition parties walked out, leaving Mr Zuma to make a speech to ANC MPs alone.
Twenty years after South Africa escaped apartheid and became a democracy, commentators said use of the security forces to address political rows was a concerning development.
“This is now a police state,” said Bantu Holomisa, an opposition leader.
The protest was led by Julius Malema, once a staunch ally of the beleaguered president but now his strongest challenger over £12.9 million of taxpayer money spent on his private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu Natal.

The “security renovations” included a swimming pool, an amphitheatre and a children’s playground. Mr Zuma was ordered to pay the cost of the building work by the public watchdog but has refused.

The trouble began as Jacob Zuma appeared at the opening of parliament to deliver his annual State of the Nation speech. It was the first time he has appeared before MPs since he was heckled by Mr Malema at parliamentary questions last August.

 

Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters are removed from parliament during President Zuma's addess. Credit: Instagram / erinconwaysmith

As Mr Zuma rose to his feet, so did the first of a series of MPs from Mr Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a breakaway party from the ANC whose radical left-wing policies include Zimbabwe-style land reform and mine nationalisation.
Mr Malema had warned that his MPs would disrupt the speech in a bid to force Mr Zuma to account for state money he has refused to pay back.
Speaker Baleka Mbete, who is also the ANC’s chairman, said Mr Zuma would not respond to questions, then called in police and parliamentary security staff.

As foreign ambassadors and dignitaries looked on, they grabbed the EFF MPs – who wear red overalls, headscarves and smocks as a nod to the manual workers and domestic staff they represent – and dragged them out of the chamber, upending desks and seats as they went.

Moments later, the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s largest opposition party, asked the Speaker to confirm police with guns had been invited into the house, something banned by the country’s liberal constitution. When she confirmed they had been, the DA ordered its 80-odd members out, followed by several other opposition parties.

Speaking outside as Mr Zuma made his speech to MPs from his own party who remained in the chamber, Mr Malema said the president’s party was answering political problems “not with political answers but with security apparatus”.

“The ANC is taking South Africa back into a dark age,” Mr Malema said.

Musi Maimaine, the DA’s parliamentary leader, said if Mr Zuma continued to use police to protect him from answering questions, South Africa was “in real danger”.

It’s a profound moment in the history of our nation and it rests on one fact, it’s the fact that there is a president here who refuses to uphold the law of our country,” Mr Maimane said.

In a statement issued after Mr Zuma’s speech, the South African government condemned the EFF’s MPs for “holding this country to ransom” with their “unruly and disrespectful conduct”.

“The government of the republic of South AFirca is deeply disappointed and disgusted at the despicable conduct by the behaviour of some elected members of parliament aimed at bringing our hard-earned democracy into serious disrepute,” it read. “The democracy we earned today came with serious sacrifices and bloodshed. People died for this democracy for these members to be elected as public representatives. Their actions dishonour those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.


culled from Telegraph UK