Parliament - Fireworks were expected in the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon as opposition parties elaborate their reasons for giving President Jacob Zuma's ninth State of the Nation Address a collective thumbsdown.
The Economic Freedom Fighters were due back in the chamber after disrupting the SONA speech with cries of “Zupta must go” - a reference to his close ties with the wealthy Gupta family - before being ordered to leave.
The EFF was expected to again confront Zuma on the same issue, following media reports at the weekend that finance minister Nhlanhla Nene's firing was linked to an interest the Guptas have in the country's nuclear power expansion programme.
Read: Things to look out for during #SONAdebate
The Democratic Alliance for its part said it would use the two-day debate on the speech, to discuss the true state of South Africa and hinted that it would not only tackle the president's perceived shortcomings but that of the legislature itself.
DA chief whip John Steenhuizen noted that Parliament had rubberstamped a report on the Nkandla scandal last year that absolved Zuma of any duty to reimburse the state for improvements to his private home, but that the president had now been forced before the Constitutional Court to concede that this exercise had been meaningless.
“We will use this opportunity to debate the important issues South Africa is facing: 8,3 million jobless people, low economic growth, a higher education crisis, service delivery and crime,” he added.
“It is time that President Zuma accounted to the nation for his failures.”
A year ago, DA leader Mmusi Maimane told Parliament in a hard-hitting speech that Zuma was “a broken man” and more of the same was expected when he speaks on Tuesday after telling reporters that he disliked the president and wanted him removed.
The debate will conclude with Zuma's response to his critics late Wednesday afternoon.
African News Agency
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