The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it is taking speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to court over Parliament’s failure to discipline President Jacob Zuma. This is after the Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that he violated his oath of office.

EFF members were once again carried out of Parliament by security officers last week after the party disrupted the State of the Nation Address for over an hour. They were demanding that President Jacob Zuma not be allowed to address the house.

The EFF is adamant that president Zuma is occupying his position illegally as head of state. It says parliament should have commenced with disciplinary action against President Zuma.

Party leader, Julius Malema, says abiding by the oath is a pre-requisite for every president and this is precisely why the courts have to intervene.

“We are now taking the matter to court to have Baleka compelled by the court to discipline Zuma because the Constitutional Court was not going to say to us discipline Zuma or remove Zuma. They just said he did wrong things. What happens next is for parliament to institute an impeachment process or disciplinary action to take further the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court can’t say this person acted unconstitutionally and it ends there. If you allow parliament to continue as if nothing happened from the Constitutional Court you are rendering the Constitutional Court useless.”

As part of its campaign to force President Zuma out of office, the party is planning a series of boycotts during the parliamentary sittings where he is part of the proceedings.

Malema says the EFF cannot sit and watch while the country’s constitution is being disregarded

Malema says the EFF cannot sit and watch while the country’s constitution is being disregarded.

“We are a country that is constituted by cowards who have accepted that a person who has compromised the oath of office can continue to occupy the office. Those that say we must adhere to the constitution are called names by those who have become comfortable with criminals occupying the highest office even when they have disregarded the oath.”

Malema has also warned that the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), runs the risk of losing more support during 2019 general elections due to its continued failure to act against president Zuma.

Malema says 2016’s local government election results should serve as a wake-up call for the ANC.

“The ANC is going to lose Gauteng and they must again blame that on Zuma because their failure to remove Zuma and discipline Zuma is eating on their votes and in 2019. They must know that the EFF, when it comes to coalition politics, will remember those beatings they were doing in parliament in the same way we did when we were constituting Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela.”

The EFF says it has, meanwhile, asked the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to probe the use of police officers disguised as parliamentary security officials during the SONA last week.