EFF leader Julius Malema, his deputy Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and two others failed in a last-minute court bid to overturn their suspension so they could attend Thursday's State of the Nation.

Hours before the State of the Nation Address (Sona) the Western Cape High Court dismissed the EFF MPs' bid to overturn their salary-less suspension for February because they had failed to show good reasons or that they would suffer real harm and prejudice.

"The court has to pay due and proper respect to Parliament's competence to regulate its process and affairs, including the disciplining of members..." said the full Bench judgement.

Parliament's choice and timing of the suspension of EFF leader Julius Malema and the five others was "deliberate and conscious" -- and the EFF MPs not being able to attend Sona was "both as punishment for their behaviour at the previous year's Sona and to prevent them from possibly causing a similar disruption at this year's one", according to the judgment.

Malema, his deputy Floyd Shivambu, secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and two others were suspended without pay for the month of February for contempt of Parliament for disrupting the 2023 Sona. Malema and others walked with placards to the stage where President Ramaphosa was sitting.

The initial court application against the suspension was struck off the court roll as the voluminous documents were filed late, and...