“Our people are impatient with corruption, they are impatient with the ravaging effects of unemployment, the devastating state of Eskom.”
EFF threats
The EFF said it will continue with its plans to disrupt Sona, despite parliament's presiding officers warning against it.
Addressing the media in Johannesburg on Sunday, EFF leader Julius Malema said they will use Sona to call for the removal of public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan for misleading the nation about load-shedding.
“When Cyril starts, we start! That’s how it’s going to roll. When he starts speaking, we are speaking also about Pravin going. We are not going to be ruled here by Pravin. It must come to an end,” said Malema.
He made a similar threat in January. Parliament responded that it was “not losing any sleep” over the EFF's Sona plans.
“The complex challenges confronting our country require capable public representatives who endeavour to strengthen parliament's constitutional function of fearless oversight over the executive, not impede its work,” parliament's spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.