Cape Town – Democratic Alliance MPs, led by party leader Mmusi Maimane, said that he will launch an urgent legal application against the conduct of the parliamentary protection officers.
Maimane walked out of the National Assembly on Thursday, shortly before President Jacob Zuma's State Of The Nation Address, and moments after Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs were violently ejected from the chamber.
"I think without doubt, this Parliament has become colonised by the executive. Jacob Zuma is now using stun grenades, teargas, [and] the military to defend the person who has violated the Constitution. And now, the speakers of Parliament have also been co-opted in destroying the Constitution of the Republic," Maimane said outside.
"In which world do we allow, as I have always argued the case to say the police and the defence cannot come into this precinct. This is the people's Parliament. If we don't have a Constitution to stand for, what exactly are we standing for?"
Before leaving the National Assembly, Maimane had raised a point of order saying that it was unconstitutional that teargas was used in the public gallery. EFF MPs were earlier forcefully and physically removed by Parliament's security services. Speaking outside, Maimane said it had become "unsafe" to sit in chamber after security used teargas inside.
"We can't allow for the executive to encroach on Parliament in that manner."