Lots of sound and fury but Zuma unscathed

"Finally!" President Jacob Zuma exclaimed as he began his delayed State of the Nation speech last night. Then he giggled.

Minutes earlier he had watched EFF members being punched and kicked out of the National Assembly following a disruption that lasted for more than an hour.

Zuma seemed unmoved by the violence that again marred the proceedings after National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete called in security officers to eject the EFF MPs who had disrupted his speech.

• Chaos nation''Racist, criminal, sellout, scoundrel, delinquent.'' These are some of the slurs that MPs hurled at one another in the chaos that preceded President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation speech last night.

Earlier, Zuma had been only a few seconds into his speech when EFF secretary Godrich Gardee and party leader Julius Malema stood and called on the presiding officers not to allow him to speak.

"Sitting in front of us is an incorrigible man, rotten to the core," said Malema.

"He must address the nation from prison."

After numerous attempts by Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairman Thandi Modise to get the EFF to allow Zuma to speak, parliamentary security officers were called and a brawl ensued.

The expulsion of the EFF MPs was followed by a DA walkout.

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DA leader Mmusi Maimane said outside the House that he would go to court to challenge the night's events.

"I must stand up for the rules of this country."

He said gas canisters had been discharged in the public gallery of the House.

Modise later said that it had been found that the canisters had contained "pepper spray". She apologised to MPs and said there would be an investigation.

As the chaos worsened, Zuma appeared unfazed.

"It looks like he has almost got used to the EFF doing their thing and the DA following suit. When he got to the second part of his speech he was relaxed and was on top of things," said University of Johannesburg social work professor Ndangwa Noyoo.

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Noyoo said it was clear that Zuma felt comfortable and confident.

"[Last year] there was a vote of no-confidence, which was thrown out. The opposition parties can run and chant, do whatever, but they are not able to remove him. It is only the ANC leadership that can do that. Right now, he is comfortable. He knows that he is on his last lap."

Legal academic Warren Freedman said the EFF's contention that the president was unfit to speak in the House because he had violated the constitution might have moral relevance but had no legal basis.

"He remains in office so he still has all the powers vested in him by the constitution. He's not impeached. He remains president with all of the powers of a president."