Pretoria – The National Freedom Party (NFP) said it will do all it can to disrupt President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2023 State of the Nation Address scheduled to be delivered on Thursday.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, NFP secretary general Canaan Mdletshe said Ramaphosa has failed to lead South Africa and must step down.
“I do not think that we are going to be muscled out, but we are going to make sure that we disrupt the president. He must not have it easy on Thursday … he must be disrupted. We are therefore calling on all other MPs (members of Parliament) including those from the ANC to do the same thing.
“If they are there representing the people of this country, they must stand with the people of this country. The people of this country are fed up with the president right now. We are hoping that within the ANC we will find some comrades that honestly be representing the people from their constituencies and be part of us when we try and disrupt the president,” said Mdletshe.
“All I can assure you is that the president is not going to have it easy on Thursday. We are going to make sure that each and every moment that avails itself, he must be disrupted,” he said.
He added that “there is too much that is not going right in this country”.
He singled out infrastructure collapse, the poor service in the public healthcare system, adding that “everything in this country is not going well because President Ramaphosa is failing in his duties”.
Earlier this week, IOL reported that a showdown is expected in Parliament this week when Ramaphosa takes to the podium to deliver his annual address. The Economic Freedom Fighters led by Julius Malema has also vowed to disrupt the president’s speech again and instead wants him to resign.
Ramaphosa’s reputation has been sullied by the Phala Phala scandal, in which millions of dollars were found stashed in furniture at his private game farm, instead of it being declared to the authorities. He has also been unable to deal with the ongoing electricity crisis that has crippled the economy. These are among the reasons some political parties, the EFF chief among them, want him gone.
IOL