OPINION - It was drama again at the opening of Parliament when Julius Malema and his red brigade held up Sona for nearly an hour-and-a-half with their unruly, defiant and disgusting behaviour.
They repeatedly defied the Speaker's numerous calls for order, even forcing her to suspend the joint sitting.
The EFF wanted the Speaker to ask former apartheid leader FW de Klerk, who, it must be admitted, was stupid and insensitive to publicly deny that apartheid was a crime against humanity, to leave the House.
When the Speaker refused, they turned their wrath on Pravin Gordhan, unfairly blaming the Public Enterprises Minister for the crises at Eskom, SAA and other SOEs.
The unceremonious opening of Parliament exposes two fundamental weaknesses in the ANC leadership.
All the Speaker could do is call the unruly members of the EFF to order, which fell on deaf ears, much like a poor parent allowing his/her child to throw tantrums in public, with no consequences for such unbecoming conduct.
The Speaker's inability to act firmly against the Malema menace reflects on the government's lack of decisive action in dealing effectively with problems and challenges, ruining this beautiful country.
The other point to note is that if Parliament cannot put its own house in order, how does it expect to bring order, stability and prosperity to the whole country?
In his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa quoted Nelson Mandela.
Not very smart of him because it only revealed the wide chasm between him and the iconic leader. Great men and women are often born in times of adversity.
Judging from his poor performance thus far, Ramaphosa does not fit into those big shoes of Mandela.
What the country desperately needs is a brave and fearless leader who will not hesitate to take the bull by the horns and confront head-on the myriad problems that are impeding the progress of the nation - not someone who talks glibly of a new dawn and then quotes the late music legend Joseph Shabalala’s "new age has begun".
Until we see the president's many ideas and plans turn into concrete forms of action, we cannot have faith and confidence in him to take this country out of the mire.
He does not have greatness written over him. Sorry, Mr President, you have failed again to inspire the nation.
T Markandan Kloof