Shock, embarrassment, wit: SA turns to Twitter after Parliament fiasco

Chaos broke out in Parliament late last night after riot police were called into the National Assembly to remove MP Ngwanamakwetle Mashabela from the Economic Freedom Fighters. This followed a day of opposition filibustering that had continued late into the evening. Of course Twitter kept pace with all the action, with citizens expressing their opinions on the political antics going down in Cape Town.

As reported by Mail & Guardian Online‎, the parliamentary video and audio feed was cut off at some point during the brawl, opening up the discussion of censorship.

Media asking why parly feed was cut, who makes the call and whether it’s tantamount to censorship? @Powerfm987 #parliament

— Iman Rappetti (@imanrappetti) November 14, 2014

If a leader of the ANC had tweeted these tweets would be in all the news. #balancemedia pic.twitter.com/w3XiahCWhN

— Bram Hanekom (@bram_hanekom) November 14, 2014

While the National Assembly video feed might have been cut, people have still managed to post amateur footage and pictures of the events on Twitter:

An unarmed female MP being physically dragged out of the National Assembly by the police as instructed by the ANC. pic.twitter.com/bkaPKqECDw

— SollyMalatsi (@SollyMalatsi) November 13, 2014

Uya phapha RT @TerriStander: The @SAPoliceService has just assaulted me and threw me over the @ParliamentofRSA bench pic.twitter.com/ZT27fBpAks

— Immortaltainment™ (@HlayisaniMalele) November 14, 2014

Absolutely disgraceful. Hang your heads in shame, ANC pic.twitter.com/p0fIFY84OJ

— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) November 13, 2014

MPs vs Police: Chaos in South Africa’s National Assembly: http://t.co/FyOMSIjyXI @YouTube #EFF #parliament #Nkandladebate #anc #da #zuma

— ‘CIA SPY’ as Journo (@AwesomeSBU) November 14, 2014

As many South Africans do in times of stress, Twitter users turned to wit and humour:

#parliament ~ @khayadlanga: “You can’t scream like that as if this is a shebeen,” says the deputy Speaker. That’s an insult to shebeens.

— Darren Smith (@DazMSmith) November 14, 2014

In SA the pizza delivery man is more reliable than the police if you need them – unless they’re called to beat up MPs in parliament

— Max du Preez (@MaxduPreez) November 14, 2014

Ah, it’s the time of day when the EFF start flippin the middle finger. #parliament pic.twitter.com/Fxabnh7kUl

— Rebecca Davis (@becsplanb) November 13, 2014

New #parliament drinking game: Down a shot every time they say “Honourable member.”

— jae (@jaymeisterrr) November 13, 2014

A media briefing regarding the event is currently underway. You can tune in here.