NEWS & ANALYSIS

ANC will deal with any 'shenanigans' at People's Assembly - Fikile Mbalula

Minister says assembly on Grand Parade on day of SONA not intended as a show of force

ANC will deal with any 'shenanigans' at People's Assembly - Mbalula

Cape Town - The African National Congress will deal with any "shenanigans" that may arise during the party’s People’s Assembly, NEC member Fikile Mbalula warned on Tuesday.

"If you come with some shenanigans of trying to disrupt, we will deal with your constipation that comes haphazardly," he told reporters, ahead of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

The assembly, to be held on the Grand Parade in Cape Town on the day of the SONA, is intended to bring the ANC’s leaders and its supporters together. The focus of the assembly would be radical transformation, he said.

It was not intended as a show of force, Mbalula said, and everyone with good intentions was welcome.

"We are very peaceful, but we don’t want people who attend the assembly with good intentions to be provoked by others.

"People who have got anarchy and their shenanigans in Parliament have got their space. There is no reason to interfere with the ANC,” Mbalula said.

Economic Freedom Fighters MPs have disrupted Zuma’s previous SONA appearances.

Zuma and ANC leaders would make their way to the assembly afterward for a meet and greet.

The party had decided that Parliament and institutions of state would not be isolated ivory towers, Mbalula said.

"For years, we have allowed all sorts of people to come and gather in Parliament‚ protest and do all what they do. All we did because we are a ruling party was to put on our nice suits and lock ourselves inside and leave our people outside," he said.

News24