SONA2017 - 441 was the talking point of this year's South African Sate of the Nation Address (SONA). This was the number of South African National Defense Forces (SANDF) President Zuma deployed to protect the president from its people - the first time in democratic history.
The move, naturally, struck a chord with those in opposition parties. The day kicked off with EFF protesters gathering illegally on Adderly and Church Street. Under the careful eye of some 2,000 police, caspers, barbed wire and helicopters barricaded the streets of Cape Town.
The day's peace was nearly disturbed when 300 school uniformed children charged around the corner chanting African National Congress (ANC) slogans and making a b-line for the EFF. The children could identify an iphone and yet struggled to give reason as to why they would want to goad the opposition.
The two groups were forced apart by a police wall. All this while, thousands of ANC supporters gathered at a legal People's Assembly, a mere two blocks away, on Grand Parade.
