Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs did not take kindly to African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Jackson Mthembu's criticism of a slapping incident at Parliament involving one of their MPs, and warned Mthembu that he could be next.

Mthembu was referring to the incident on Thursday when EFF MP Marshall Dlamini slapped a police officer after the State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Opening the debate on the Sona on Tuesday afternoon, Mthembu said the ANC was the only truly democratic party in South Africa.

"The irony of a party which refers to itself as the Democratic Alliance (DA), repeatedly silencing vocal black women is indicative of their true nature – which is a white male-dominated party only concerned with protecting and entrenching white privilege," Mthembu said.

"The DA fronts black faces to pursue the agenda of the white privileged minority to the detriment of the black majority."

DA MPs groaned.

He said the common denominator between the DA and "their alliance partner the EFF", was that both were male dominated.

"The EFF is a two-men dictatorship where you are fired without due process for merely disagreeing with the dictatorship of the two," he said.

He added that, since 2014, the EFF had rid itself of 19 MPs and "countless" councillors.

"They call themselves a government in waiting, yet behave like men-children who go around beating up people.

"Just last week, an EFF MP, Marshall Dlamini, assaulted a police officer outside the National Assembly chamber. We have been informed that a case has been opened and hope that he faces the full might of the law," Mthembu said.

"You are next!" EFF MPs, including their leader Julius Malema, screamed while pointing at Mthembu.

Undeterred, Mthembu pointed out that EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu was seen allegedly assaulting a journalist last year.

EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi stood up for a point of order, claiming the matter was "sub judice" because it was before Parliament's ethics committee.

"The violent, child-like behaviour of these two members is very much the character of that entire party. They are bullies who have no place in our democracy," Mthembu said.

During his speech, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Malema said: "You can say anything about us, we have very thick skins."

Dlamini was not present at the sitting. According to EFF supporters on Twitter, he was attending the funeral of DUT student Mlungisi Madonsela in KwaZulu-Natal.

During the debate, Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the ANC accepted that they made mistakes, which they wanted to correct. She was referring to corruption and State-owned enterprises.

"We will win the election, because we are very honest," Dlamini-Zuma said, as the opposition benches burst out laughing.

Malema spoke directly after her and said: "Thank the CR17 campaign for having saved us from this nightmare because this would have been our State of the Nation Address."

The debate continued on Tuesday.