Juju brings the house down

EFF leader Julius Malema showed parliamentary decorum the finger in his first speech in the National Assembly.

Malema yesterday lampooned President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation speech, dismissing it as unimaginative and filled with old promises.

His brash, no-holds-barred critique of Zuma's lacklustre speech led to several comical but undeniably tense exchanges between him and stand-in Speaker of parliament, Thandi Modise, who is also chairman of the National Council of Provinces .

At one point Malema told Modise that he would not allow her to dictate what he should say.

Zuma is expected to reply to the widespread criticism of his speech later this week.

Often inspiring laughter in MPs, Malema tore into Zuma's lack of clarity on the government's supposed push for "radical economic transformation".

He said: "Mr President, you clearly do not know what radical economic transformation is. What is so radical about [the Expanded Public Works Programme]? What is radical about buying stolen land? Maybe [the EFF] must give you a few tips on what is radical economic transformation.

"You must be prepared, if you want to advance this agenda of radical economic transformation, to expropriate stolen land without compensation, to nationalise the mines, the banks and other strategic sectors of the economy.

"You must be prepared, Mr President, to protect local industries to ensure that they continue to be productive.

"You and your party should stop playing with semantics, especially when it relates to radical economic agenda because you lack courage and have sold out the revolution.

"You don't have what it takes to lead the struggle for economic emancipation of the black majority. You are extremely scared of white people and monopoly capital.

"You promised jobs before and you repeatedly failed to create jobs. This is your legacy: you have doubled unemployment."

In 2009, Zuma promised to create 500000 jobs in the first six months of his administration and 5million jobs by 2020. He later vowed to create 6million "work opportunities" and a million jobs in agriculture by 2030.

DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said: "Our economy should be creating jobs and creating wealth for all South Africans, but it is faltering because of policy uncertainty."