Oh, we spoke too soon.

This morning, much of the coverage of last night’s State of the Nation address in Parliament centred on how meek and mild proceedings were.

No shouting, brawling and ‘madam speaker’ cries, with the main entertainment being a rather civil joke between Cyril Ramaphosa and Julius Malema.

Earlier today, however, footage emerged showing EFF MP Marshall Dlamini dishing out a serious slap, with News24 saying that “Dlamini and other EFF MPs, including party leader Julius Malema, [were] expressing unhappiness about not being allowed into the lobby in front of the National Assembly as fast as they wished”.

More from that story:

ACDP MP Steve Swart was a witness to the incident, and can be seen in the video toward the back of the crowd.

Swart told News24 they had been waiting for the presidential party, who were taking pictures in the lobby, to leave. There were four policemen in uniform and another policeman in plain clothes who asked him and others to wait.

“We were waiting there and then the EFF came through and said: ‘Excuse me, we have work to do,’ and pushed through the police. And that’s when the altercation took place.”

Swart told News24 that he couldn’t see which MP was involved, but definitely heard “a klap [smack]” from his vantage point.

“The policeman actually staggered right back, it was a hard hit because the blood started to flow. I don’t know if anyone else [was hit] but it was shocking actually.”

The sound reminds me of the Sans Souci slap from earlier this week, so you know it connected.

See for yourself:

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has yet to publicly comment, and News24 is also waiting for a response from Parliament.

Insert comment about a leopard never changing its spots.

[source:news24]