President Jacob Zuma has spent the past six years flipping the finger to the Constitution, Parliament and the people of South Africa, DA MP David Maynier told MPs on Tuesday.

Speaking during a joint-sitting debate on the state-of-the-nation address, he said Zuma had shattered the vision set out 21 years ago by former president Nelson Mandela.

“That vision has been shattered, and it has been shattered by one man, and that man is President Jacob Zuma.

“Because for the past six years, the president has given the middle finger to the Constitution, given the middle finger to this Parliament, and given the middle finger to the people of South Africa.”

Zuma had said during his address last Thursday that the fight against corruption continued.

“But the truth is, we are in the middle of a countrywide robbery in progress. And at the centre of this robbery is one case, and that case is Nkandlagate. And at the centre of Nkandlagate is one man, President Jacob Zuma.”

Zuma was not fighting corruption.

“He is fighting those who are fighting corruption.”

Referring to the R246 million that was spent on Zuma’s KwaZulu-Natal private residence, Maynier noted: “The president has no intention of ever paying back the money.”

Maynier then turned his attention to state institutions, which, he said, were being “crushed” by the ruling party under Zuma.

“The executive has been crushed by the appointment of Cabinet ministers whose principal qualification is that they can be relied upon to say ‘Yes, No 1’.”

The legislature had also been crushed “by the appointment of a Speaker [Baleka Mbete] whose principal qualification is that she can be relied upon to say Yes, No 1”.

The same applied to ANC-appointed committee chairpersons at Parliament.

Maynier said institutions such as the Scorpions, the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit and the SA Revenue Service, had all been crushed for not saying “Yes, No 1”.

Maynier’s repetition of “Yes, No 1” caused many MPs to start chanting the term.

This led Economic Freedom Fighters MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi to complain to presiding officer NCOP deputy chairman Raseriti Tau about Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, whom he (Ndlozi) referred to as “Ginger”.

This prompted a feisty response from Zulu.

“The one who refers to me as Ginger, the Ginger will be outside,” she told him.

EFF leader Julius Malema then rose to complain about what he called Zulu’s “threat”.

“We know her tendencies,” he said, to laughter from MPs.

Tau said he would first check the record to see what had been said before ruling on whether Zulu should withdraw her remark. SAPA