--- description: South Africa’s parliament descended into a chaotic brawl during a question-and-answer session with President Cyril Ramaphosa. title: Brawl breaks out in South African parliament: 'None of us can be proud about what happened' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9babdf4a0ba9f9/69893e5a929fad50d7bf1fed/south-african-parliament.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [South Africa](/tag/south-africa/) ## South Africa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Brawl Breaks Out in South African Parliament: 'None of Us Can Be Proud About What Happened' by [Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2018 5:31 PM CUT  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2018\. The country's parliament broke into a brawl during a question-and-answer session with President Ramaphosa on Tuesday. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2018\. The country's parliament broke into a brawl during a question-and-answer session with President Ramaphosa on Tuesday.GIANLUIGI GUERCIA—EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock by [Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2018 5:31 PM CUT (Bloomberg) — South Africa’s parliament descended into chaos during a question-and-answer session with President Cyril Ramaphosa and was briefly suspended following a brawl that forced security officers to evict fighting legislators. Scuffles and accusations of racism by the two biggest opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters, were followed by a fistfight between lawmakers from the EFF and Agang. Nazier Paulsen from the EFF, whose MPs wear red overalls to reflect their working-class support, jumped over benches to attack Andries Tlouamma, who had sworn at him. > [](https://twitter.com/tictoc/status/1059835229626621954) The scenes were reminiscent of the fighting that regularly delayed sittings by former President Jacob Zuma, who the EFF would refuse to allow to speak amid allegations of graft. Proceedings have largely been cordial since Ramaphosa replaced Zuma in February, and in previous arguments, the lawmakers would battle with security personnel rather than their fellow legislators. “None of us can be proud about what happened in the house today,” said Thoko Didiza, the presiding officer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5446231/south-african-parliament-brawl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5446231/south-african-parliament-brawl/"},"headline":"Brawl Breaks Out in South African Parliament: 'None of Us Can Be Proud About What Happened'","datePublished":"2018-11-06T17:31:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:57:22.899Z","description":"Accusations of racism by the two biggest opposition parties led to a fistfight","url":"https://time.com/5446231/south-african-parliament-brawl/","keywords":["South Africa","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9babdf4a0ba9f9/69893e5a929fad50d7bf1fed/south-african-parliament.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Paul Vecchiatto and Mike Cohen / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9babdf4a0ba9f9/69893e5a929fad50d7bf1fed/south-african-parliament.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"south-africa-president-parliament","caption":"South Africa President Ramaphosa FCA meeting, Johannesburg - 01 Nov 2018","creditText":"GIANLUIGI GUERCIA—EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/south-africa/","name":"South Africa"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5446231/south-african-parliament-brawl/","name":"Brawl Breaks Out in South African Parliament: 'None of Us Can Be Proud About What Happened'"}}]}] ```