Reneiloe Mashabela, an Economic Freedom Fighters MP, took to the podium on Thursday last week and, without any fear or hesitation, called President Jacob Zuma the "greatest thief in the world".
What followed was chaos, insults and police storming into the National Assembly.
Gone are the days when MPs respected parliamentary rules. Gone are the days when the ruling party simply evoked parliamentary rules to deal with irritating noises from the opposition.
The question that should occupy our minds today is: Where do we go from here?
Zuma abdicating his constitutional duties to answer questions from MPs, and the ANC saying he should be accorded respect first, tell us that our head of state has feet of clay.
The ANC, which won a comfortable majority in the last election, is in a state of shock. The strong-arm strategy it has adopted in dealing with dissenting voices is not working. Speaker Baleka Mbete has been exposed as an empty shell who only acts correctly after the ANC chief whip has spoken.
While our masses watch the circus, the real business of running this country has come to a halt. There are those who will blame the opposition, and the EFF in particular, but the question has to be asked: What is the ANC doing to bring back order and respect to an institution that is supposed to be a leveller?
The EFF's gumboots tactics have exposed the rubber stamp that parliament has been reduced to over the years. Though we don't agree with these tactics, we fully understand the frustration of the opposition.
For the ANC to win the day and bring back normality, it should begin to take its presence in parliament seriously. The rules of parliament should not be used to escape accountability.
The Nkandla scandal and the tactics employed by the ANC to shield Zuma touch a raw nerve in all of us. The president should not enjoy the proceeds of an illegal act.
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