Presiding officers of Parliament are expected to brief the media on the logistics around the delivery of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address (SONA 2016) on Tuesday.
President Zuma will be addressing a joint sitting of Parliament on Thursday evening.
President Zuma’s 2015 SONA was disrupted by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP’s, who were ejected from Parliament.
The EFF have said they will not allow President Jacob Zuma to continue with his State of the Nation Address on Thursday unless he first explains why he fired former Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene.
This has prompted Parliament not to take any chances. Secretary to Parliament, Gengezi Mgidlana says security will be extremely tight this year. “We have had assurances from the South African Police Services (SAPS), military and other elements of state to perform their respective roles on Thursday. They have given us assurance they have done all the necessary plans needed to do, for an event of this nature given the info that they have.”
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town has approved three marches in the city on the day. Spokesperson Priya Reddy says specific routes and times have been granted to 500 people from the Democratic Alliance (DA), more than 1 000 from Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement and 5 000 from “ZumaMustFall ” protesters.
Reddy says the decision to approve the protests was taken at a meeting of law enforcement agencies. “Everything has to go according to plan. The public order policing, presidential protection services, SAPS legal team and metro police have had extensive consultation with all the parties concerned. Everyone has to have accreditation no matter who you are, if you don’t have proper accreditation you will be prevented from entering the red zone.”
– By Zalene Merrington
