“The EFF MPs both and individually and collectively must be made to criminally account before a court of law and hopefully prosecuted and lawfully punished for the disgraceful they unleashed in this parliament on Tuesday”, he said.
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‘These bouncers must know that if they give violence, we will respond with violence.
About 20 Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party members, who were wrestled from their seats by plain-clothed guards, had refused to let Mr Zuma speak and furiously shouted down the Speaker, Baleka Mbete. “Every time he comes here‚ the same thing will happen‚” he said.
As the session was going on, a group of EFF supporters were protesting outside Parliament under the watchful eyes of police.
Despite a looming threat of criminal charges against its MPs the EFF has vowed to continue disrupting Parliament until President Jacob Zuma is held accountable for breaking his oath of office, it said on Wednesday.
Some of the protesters were physically dragged out of the National Assembly.
“This house needs to do something about itself”.
Following their blocking Zuma from taking the floor, Malema and his EFF MPs literally fought brief battles with security agents sent to remove them from the chamber, exchanging fists and throwing water bottles at them in TV images shown nationwide and the rest of the world.
In March, the country’s highest court found that Zuma had violated the constitution over the spending of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on his private rural residence at Nkandla in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal. It will never be closed until Zuma resigns as president.
It is the second fistfight in less than a month in South Africa’s parliament.
The government strongly denied the report.
ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the EFF’s violent action was unacceptable and went beyond rules of engagement.
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South African news media quoted Mmusi Maimane, South Africa’s opposition leader, as saying: “If finance minister Gordhan is arrested, that would be a profound threat to the economic stability of South Africa”.
