After court application dismissed, EFF caucus to snub 'undemocratic' SONA
The party took the decision after the Western Cape High Court dismissed the party’s urgent application to lift the suspension of leader, Julius Malema, and five other senior party MPs.
FILE: Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leave the Cape Town City Hall after some members were kicked out and others walked out during the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Cape Town on 9 February 2023. Picture: Rodger Bosch / POOL / AFP
CAPE TOWN - The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says its entire caucus won’t be attending Thursday night’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) because it is "undemocratic".
The party took the decision after the Western Cape High Court dismissed the party’s urgent application to lift the suspension of leader, Julius Malema, and five other senior party MPs.
The party said it rejected the court’s decision, saying it continued to be part of what it called the "Ramaphosa defence mob".
The Western Cape High Court on Thursday morning dismissed, with costs, the EFF’s urgent application to lift the suspension of its leadership.
But the party said the remainder of its 38 MPs would join the suspended six in solidarity and won’t attend what it called an unconstitutional SONA.
The EFF said this year’s State of the Nation Address was "an extended caucus of the ANC".
The party also reserved some strong words for the courts, saying the "capture of the judiciary by politicians and narrow political purposes is abominable".
The party said it would appeal the judgment, saying "it is backward and reminiscent of the colonial and apartheid past".