Controversial "Khwezi" protest during President Zuma's post-elections speech
Was the "Khwezi" silent protest planned or was it a security breach? And more importantly, was it the right platform to stage a protest?
This country never falls short of controversy and drama. It was more than the electoral results that were made public on Saturday night at the IEC headquarters in Pretoria.
As President Jacob Zuma took to the stage to address the country on the IEC post-elections results, EFF members walked out of the venue and four young women reminded the entire country on an incident that happened 10-years-ago.
The young women protesters, who were revealed to be Simamkele Dlakavu and Naledi Chirwa - student activists, staged the protest to mark 10 years since Zuma was acquitted on a charge of raping a woman who became known as Khwezi.
Zuma was acquitted of rape charges in 2006 after it was revealed he had sex with an HIV-infected woman named Khwezi, daughter of one of Zuma's close friends, who's since been exiled.
They held placards reading: “I am 1 in 3 #”, “10 years later”, “Khanga” and “Remember Khwezi”.
They remained uninterrupted until the president finished his speech which was broadcasted live, after the speech the four girls were man-handled by security out of the arena.
The women wore accreditation tags that identified them as members of the EFF.
Some members of the government cabinet blame Mapisa-Nqakula for the incident, saying she conspired with these girls as she was in charge of the security cluster. Mokonyane shouted: “You sold us out! This can’t be! You sold us out!” reported Times Live.
Seeing that it's Women's Month in South Africa, was it the correct platform for the protest to happen?