The spectacle of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and their allies reducing the State of the Nation Address (Sona) to little more than a barroom brawl on Thursday night is a sad reminder of how proud we are to be a “democracy”. , South Africa is still far from it.
Democracy is, by definition, a system in which the majority of people decide how life is to be lived and the people elected to do so.
What the EFF has shown, by brutally disrupting Sona by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is the voice that will destroy true democracy in the new world of South Africa.
For 40 minutes, these louts not only prevented our head of state – and he still is, no matter what you think of him – from explaining to his citizens his assessment of where we are and where we will be as a nation.
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Not only that, the EFF thugs wanted to make a statement as “freedom fighters” by trying to storm the stage at the Cape Town City Hall where Ramaphosa was waiting to deliver his speech.
He never posed a real threat to Ramaphosa, as he knew from the start, but by forcing the security services to intervene, he got more “bang for the buck” than he deserved.
And that image, a small tail wagging a larger, but passive dog, is a political icon of today.
The EFF – and its small party of collaborators – are playing “kingmakers” in municipalities across SA. In Joburg, we have a “place owner” mayor who is barely coherent and in place despite the party’s one percent of the vote.
Also read: Sona: EFF was not removed to protect Ramaphosa, just his feelings – Malema
Former gangster Kenny Kunene is the MMC for transport, despite three percent of the vote showing his party. This is an aberration of democracy and the bigger parties must fight against it.