Political parties are geared up to punch holes in President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address‚ which is to be debated in the parliament this week.

The SONA debate is scheduled to take place in a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday with Zuma set to close the debate with his reply on Thursday.

If the events of last week are anything to go by‚ this week’s sitting of parliament is likely to continue on the raucous note that has now become synonymous with the fifth democratic national legislature.

 While the majority of parties represented in parliament walked out of the chamber last week following the violent ejection of members of the Economic Freedom Fighters‚ they are unlikely to boycott the SONA debate as it gives them an opportunity to officially respond to Zuma’s speech and mine the publicity surrounding it.

 Zuma’s SONA‚ which was characterised as bold and radical by his party the ANC‚ has been rejected by opposition parties and some analysts‚ who have described it as devoid of new ideas to tackle the economy and other economic challenges.

Ralph Mathekga‚ the director of research at the Mapungubwe Institute of Strategic Reflections‚ said the opposition parties‚ especially the EFF and the DA‚ were faced with a political dilemma.

“It’s a SONA that officially‚ they don’t know about. They were not there when it was read out. In principle they are going to debate a SONA that they were not part of. It’s more like jumping back on the bandwagon…it has implications about commitment and consistency‚” he said.

Judith February‚ a research associate at the Institute for Security Studies‚ said the absence of the EFF would make life easy for Zuma.

“I would imagine that the absence of the EFF would make it relative plain sailing for Zuma.

“I think the EEF need to seriously re-valuate their strategy; they have reached the limits of the strategy of disruption. It provides Zuma a way out to say they don’t have regard for the constitution and his right to speak in parliament‚” she said.

The EFF could be absent from the debate after their MPs were forcefully removed from the house last week following their defiance of the parliamentary presiding officers.

In terms of the rules of parliament‚ MPs removed from the chamber by the parliamentary protection services are immediately suspended for five days and they may not participate in the business of parliament.

EFF national spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said on Monday that the party was still deciding whether to take part or to stay away from the SONA debate.

 The party did not take part in the 2016 SONA debate after its Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema said they would not participate in it because doing so would recognising an “illegitimate President”.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said he was looking forward to the SONA debate.

“The speech itself‚ it was weak‚ uninspiring and racially divisive‚ devoid of any new ideas on how to free our young people from the shackles of joblessness and hopelessness.

“We will respond in full to the President’s speech in the SONA debate‚” he said