ANCYL leader's 'civil war' threats out of order - Mbete

9 February 2016

Parliament – The ANC Youth League leader's threat of a civil war around the State of the Nation Address (Sona) is totally out of order, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said on Tuesday.

Mbete, who was briefing the media on Parliament's readiness for Sona also said the Economic Freedom Fighters' "threat" to ask the president to answer for former minister Nhlanhla Nene's dismissal was irresponsible.

"To be provocative and be irresponsible by publicly saying you are planning to disrupt the State of the Nation Address is something that cannot be welcomed. To then say there is going to be a civil war is then totally out of order," she said.

She said the issues between the EFF and the ANCYL were currently happening outside the space of Parliament and was political.

On Friday last week, EFF leader Julius Malema said the party would not stay quiet during Zuma's speech. 

"Instead of just leaving him alone, we are going to share that time with him. It will be he and the EFF giving the State of the Nation Address that day," Malema told reporters in Benoni at the time. 

During last year’s speech, EFF MPs repeatedly raised points of order to ask when Zuma would "pay back the money" spent on renovations to his Nkandla homestead. They were eventually thrown out of the National Assembly

ANCYL president Collen Maine warned against disruptions during Sona while speaking at an event in Soshanguve over the weekend.

He said those who wanted to disrupt the address should prepare themselves for a "civil war".

The ANCYL also volunteered to deal with unruly members.

Mbete said the youth league were not a factor in Parliament. They had not met with them, and the league had not said anything to Parliament.

President Jacob Zuma will present the annual State of the Nation on Thursday, Friday 11.

Parliament on Tuesday insisted that there would not be extra security measures for this year's event.

'DA calls for calm'

Mbete said the issue of security for this year's event needed to be demystified.

"It's not special or anything different this year from 21 years ago when we arrived here. There is always co-operation between the three arms of the state, including in the area of security."

She said the discussions around security were had every year because of the nature of the day.

"We always come together with the security forces and those in Parliament actually deployed to deal with security interact on a more regular basis with their colleagues in the other organs of the state that are dealing with issues of security."

She said the protests planned on that day by various organisations were not cause for alarm, but part of a democratic South Africa.

"There is obviously a certain level of anxiety. One hopes that the cautions that the city has given to various groups would assist the situation to remain calm," she said.

On Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance reiterated that they would not be party to any disruptions of Sona.

The party said in a statement that Sona was important to hold the president accountable for his plans, policies, and their implementation.

"There is nothing revolutionary about pointless points of order and privilege and the DA calls for calm," DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.