Parliament – As Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema vowed to “fight back with everything we have” following running battles between his party’s MPs and members of the parliamentary protection guard on Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma said the behaviour of the opposition politicians was the “product of a very violent society” borne out of the apartheid system.
Speaking during his quarterly question-and-answer session in the National Assembly shortly after the EFF MPs were physically removed from the House, Zuma said the violent protests the country was experiencing happened not because government ignored the people, but because of a culture of violence in South Africa.
He said the EFF’s actions were an example of this culture which pervaded society.
“We come from a violent system called apartheid, very violent and people developed violence to fight it and we have never addressed that issue to say now we are in a different situation so people once they see something they take it up through violence,” Zuma said.
“That’s what makes people think that’s what they need to do – no respect, point fingers at the Speaker and stand up one after the other – that tells you you are dealing with people who are a product of a very violent society who need help.”
As the president appealed to parties to “come together” to deal with the “violent minds” in society, EFF leader Julius Malema, flanked by party heavyweights outside the chamber, vowed Zuma would not find peace in Parliament again.
“We cannot be led by a man who failed to defend, uphold and protect our Constitution.”
Malema defended his MPs for hitting back when dragged out of the chamber, saying: “This bouncers must know that if they give violence, we will respond with violence.”
After Speaker Baleka Mbete ordered them from the chamber, the EFF MPs hurled water bottles at protection officers who were charged with physically removing them.
Malema said their vow to “fight back” would not stop at water bottles.
“Any weapon we come across, we will fight with it. We are going to fight back with everything we have,” he said.
Malema said his party would continue their campaign to prevent Zuma from speaking in the House, insisting that since the Constitutional Court found that he had violated the country’s highest law by not abiding by the directives of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to pay back public money used for improvements to his Nkandla home, the EFF did not see him as a legitimate president.
“Zuma is not president. The day he violated the Constitution is the day he kissed the office of the presidency good-bye,” the firebrand leader of South Africa’s third largest party said.
As Malema and his colleagues left the parliamentary precinct to serve out a five-day automatic suspension, some of the party’s supporters, who were earlier involved in the skirmishes, sang and danced outside the gates to the legislature.
A shattered glass door at one of the entrances to the assembly building bore testimony to the fracas.
The African National Congress now wants Parliament to lay criminal charges against the EFF leaders for fighting with parliamentary protection officers and for damaging legislature property
African News Agency