As those tuned in to the goings-on of South Africa’s current Parliamentary crisis await President Jacob Zuma’s response to questions and queries raised by the opposition during the post State of the Nation Address debate, the Economic Freedom Fighters believe Zuma should address the issues raised on Tuesday and Wednesday.

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi says opposition party members of the National Assembly over the last two days have questioned and deconstructed some of the policy points that were raised by Zuma in his annual address. For the EFF, however, the issue of land and land redistribution is a feature of the president’s speech that must be addressed and answered to.

“Limiting ownership to 12 000 hectares and banning foreign ownership does not mean that our people will be getting land, and that is an essential problem with regards to land in the country. The problem is not that there are people that own more than that amount or that there are foreigners owning land, the problem is that the majority of South Africans, in particular blacks, do not have land,” he said Thursday morning.

Ndlozi said the party expects the president to respond to their queries on work conditions as well as the control of minerals exported to other countries.

“The President [must] focus on the idea of not signing a new Minerals Act that controls minerals that leave South Africa. He must respond on why he did not sign it, he must respond to the charge that we believe he is controlled by capital; and respond in how not signing that law is beneficial to the country.”

President Jacob Zuma will respond to the SONA debate on Thursday. VOC (Andriques Che Petersen)