Image via: @PolokoTau Twitter
Watch: EFF members ‘brought to their knees’ at North West SOPA
Two EFF members have been forcibly removed from the State of the Province Address in the North West after countless points of order.
Image via: @PolokoTau Twitter
Two members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); Papiki Babuile and Matshidiso Botswe, have been forcibly removed from the North West provincial legislature after Premier Job Mokgoro’s authority to deliver the State of the Province Address (SOPA) was questioned. Mokgoro’s authority was challenged on the basis that provincial government is under administration.
According to the African News Agency (ANA), Botswe was physically removed by five security officers after he defied Speaker Susan Dantjie’s orders to leave. He was seen outside bleeding from the nose and being assisted by paramedics.
Babuile left the chamber shouting: “You are killing people ko spetlele[ at hospital]”
After Botswe and Babuile were ejected, the Democratic Alliance (DA) staged a walked out, stating that the sitting was illegitimate.
The EFF have not posted anything on the matter thus far, however, a video posted by a former journalist Poloko Tau shows how they were thrown out.
Watch: EFF get thrown out
Mokgoro continued with his speech, but Dantjie announced that members of the EFF were fighting outside the chamber and called the police to intervene. When journalists arrived at the scene, the altercation had stopped.
DA caucus leader Winston Rabotapi said Mokgoro was not fit to deliver the state of the province address by virtue of his office being under administration, as this effectively stripped him of his powers.
Dantjie ruled that he was allowed to deliver his speech.
EFF miss out on the state of the province
Mokgoro touched on issues like service delivery, water and sanitation and housing. A lack of service delivery has been the cause of many violent riots and protests throughout South Africa.
According to Newzroom Afrika, Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) North West MPL Erns Kleynhans said what took place on Friday was “unfortunate”.
“If you look at the state of our province, this is not called for, there are more serious issues at hand and it could have been dealt with in another way,” he said.
Failing municipalities
When asked if Mokgoro addressed the issues at hand in his SCOPA, he said that he did not address it with “seriousness”.
Like others, he felt that Mokgoro did not address the state of the municipalities, for which many protests are currently taking place.
Mokgoro touched on municipalities that are under administration, saying they will remain that way for a further six months so he can make sure they are ready to stand on their own two feet. It is believed that 15 out of 22 municipalities are under administration.
