POLL | Is it fair that Julius Malema and five other EFF members have been banned from attending Sona?

This year's state of the nation address (Sona) might be free of delays and disruptions after the Western Cape High Court judgment banning EFF leader Julius Malema and five other members from attending the sitting.

Malema, his deputy president Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, senior members Vuyani Pambo and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and party spokesperson Sinawo Tambo were left fuming on Wednesday when the court told them they would have to sit out this year's Sona.

The six stormed the stage of the Cape Town City Hall during President Cyril Ramaphosa's address last February.

The EFF had been grilling him about the theft that took place at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in which millions in foreign currency had been stolen.

The red berets brought a court application to rescind the suspension as part of disciplinary sanctions but the court struck it off the roll.

Tambo said the ruling “underscores the suppressive nature of the executive's attempts to stifle accountability and silence those who hold [President] Cyril Ramaphosa accountable”. 

“The partisan and draconian decision to suspend the president of the EFF Julius Malema, the deputy president Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini and commissars Sinawo Tambo, Vuyani Pambo and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi for contempt of parliament is clearly politically motivated and aims to intimidate those who seek to hold the government accountable.”

The president is expected to deliver the Sona next Thursday.

TimesLIVE