CAPE TOWN – A session of South Africa‘s parliament convened for a keynote address by the president has descended into chaos as far-left lawmakers brawled with orderlies after interrupting the speech and the main opposition party walked out.

Deputies from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party fired questions at Jacob Zuma for more than an hour, forcing the president – whose authority has been tarnished by a series of scandals – to halt his state-of-the-nation speech.

Zuma had earlier authorised more than 400 soldiers to join the security team outside the building during the speech, an unprecedented move his opponents described as a “militarisation” of parliament.

Speaker Baleka Mbete ordered the EFF contingent ejected after their leader Julius Malema called Zuma “rotten to the core”.

Exiting the chamber with his deputies a short time later, opposition Democratic Alliance party leader Mmusi Maimane said the president was unfit to hold office.

President Jacob Zuma during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in Cape Town, South Africa February 9, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Previous Zuma speeches in parliament have led to disruptions but Thursday’s – in which he said the government would push for a greater role for blacks in the economy – was the most violent, with the scuffles spilling over into the precinct of the building, Reuters reporters saw.

A couple of blocks away, police fired stun grenades to disperse supporters of the EFF and the president’s African National Congress (ANC) party.

The party holds more than 60 percent of the 400 seats in parliament but Zuma faced a revolt by some ANC members in November.

That same month an anti-corruption watchdog called for a judicial inquiry into alleged influence-peddling in his government. He has denied the allegations.

– Reuters