DA to approach High Court after SONA chaos
DA leader Mmusi Maimane says the party will launch an application in the Western Cape High Court to have the deployment of soldiers for non-ceremonial purposes declared unconstitutional.
Maimane says the executive has colonised Parliament in protection of President Jacob Zuma at a press briefing in Cape Town.
"The presence of the South African National Defence Force far exceeded its ceremonial role. We can't tolerate it," says Maimane.
Maimane addressed the media following the chaos in the National Assembly where President Zuma delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The leader of the opposition says the President's address, which was delivered to a half empty Parliament, was defensive and racially divisive, lacking any new ideas.
"A tired rehash of old, failed economic policies, repackaged as 'radical', which have failed our young people who make up almost two thirds of the 9 million South Africans without work. The President spoke at lengths about 'radical' economic transformation, yet his SONA was anything but radical. The ANC's 'radical economic transformation' is racialised, divisive and anti-poor, designed to serve and empower the elite, the connected few, and the top 1 percent in his own party," says Maimane.