Remarks by the presiding officers of Parliament at the occasion of the official briefing on plans for the upcoming 2023 State of the Nation Address
The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Mr Amos Masondo
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Mr Lechesa Tsenoli,
Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Ms Sylvia Lucas,
House Chairpersons of both the NA and NCOP,
Members of the Media and invited guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I would like to first start by thanking the City of Cape Town, under the leadership of the Executive Mayor Councillor Geordin Hill-Lewis, for once again allowing us to use the City Hall to host this year’s Joint Sitting of the NA and the NCOP where the President of the Republic, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, will deliver the State of the Nation Address.
The City has handed over the City Hall to Parliament since February 01, in order to enable us to make the necessary arrangements to convert the area into a precinct suitable for hosting the most important occasion in the Parliamentary events calendar. The City Hall is now officially a precinct of Parliament, as per the definition of the precincts of Parliament provided for in Section 2 of the Powers, Privileges, and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act. In addition to the State of the Nation Address, the Hall will also host the two-day debate on the President’s address by the joint sitting of the Houses, the reply to the debate by the President and the Budget Speech by the Minister of Finance on February 22.
President Ramaphosa has in terms of Section 84 (2)(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Arica, read in conjunction with Rule 7(1)(a) of the Joint Rules of Parliament, called a Joint Sitting of the two Houses of Parliament for Thursday, 09 February 2023, at 19:00, to deliver the State of the Nation Address.
The theme under which the joint sitting of Parliament is hosting the President remains the sixth Parliament’s focus of “Following up on our commitments to the people: Making your future work better.”
The 2023 State of the Nation Address will be fully physical and all attendees, including Members of Parliament and invited guests, will be present in the Chamber and the public gallery.
Approximately 490 Members of Parliament, 10 including representatives of Salga, will be accommodated on the floor of the chamber while 263 guests, constituted of representatives of various sectors of our society, will be accommodated in the public gallery of the hall.
We can confirm that similar to last year, this year’s proceedings of SONA 2023 will follow the full ceremony format. Activities undertaken and observed during a full ceremony include the Flame Guard, the 21-gun salute, an aircraft flypast, the lining of the route, the Ceremonial Guard, the Salute of the Step Guard, the singing of the National Anthem, the full Military Band and the ceremonial processions of the Provincial Speakers, Premiers, the Judiciary, the Deputy President and the President.
The President will take a salute at the platform prepared in front of the statue of uTata Madiba, which is on the balcony of the City Hall, where he will observe the singing of the National anthem by the South African National Defence Force military band, synchronised with the 21-gun salute and flypast.
The role of the imbongi in the SONA programme has been an important feature of this key state event since 1994 and remains crucial to the celebration of our cultural diversity and social cohesion. Imbongi is selected in conjunction with the provincial legislatures and the language in which the praise song is rendered is determined on rotational basis to ensure all languages are afforded equal primacy. For this SONA, a isiZulu praise singer, Mr Msawenkosi Duma, from KwaZulu-Natal will usher the President into the Chamber.
We have taken note of planned marches and protests on the day of SONA. Peaceful protests are a feature of our constitutional democracy and a means to express views on SONA. Appropriate arrangements will be made to receive memoranda where required.
Parliament has engaged and reached agreement with all stakeholders, including the Parade Traders, with a view to minimise the temporary disruption of business due to the declaration of the City Hall as a Parliamentary precinct. Alternative trading sites have been provided in Harrington Square, Heritage Square and The Company Gardens during this period. Once again we appreciate the ongoing cooperation and understanding from the representatives of this business community.
ATTENDANCE OF DIGNITARIES:
The following dignitaries have confirmed attendance of the SONA:
- Former President Thabo Mbeki
- Former Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete
- Chief Justice Zondo, Deputy Chief Justice Maya and the 15 Judges
- Pan African Parliament President, H.E. Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira
- Speaker of Azerbaijan, Hon Sahiba Gafarova, in her capacity as the Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Forum
- Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, The Rt Hon Hara
- Mayor of Cape Town, Mr Geordin Hill-Lewis
One of the defining features of our normalisation of operations following the Covid-19 pandemic is the 263 guests expected this year, inclusive of special dignitaries. The confirmed guests include:
- 10 netball captains of the different countries gathered here in Cape Town for the World Cup. They are representing Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies)
- The Chairperson of the Netball World Cup Board, the President of the Netball South Africa, the Head Coach of Netball South Africa and the team’s Captain will be our special guests.
We wish all the teams a memorable world cup competition in South Africa, and our team success in showcasing South Africa as a winning nation.
- The President and the Chairman of Cricket South Africa will be here.
- An invitation to the Head Coach and Captain of Banyana-Banyana have also been extended as an opportunity to honour the current Confederation of African Football women’s champions. However due to their obligations at the FIFA Women’s World Cup they are unable to be with us. Parliament wishes them well in this competition.
MEDIA ACCREDITATION:
Public participation is an essential part of the business of Parliament, and South Africans who will not be physically present as part of the event may follow the proceedings live on a wide range of media platforms, including Parliament’s own multimedia and television platforms as well as mainstream media. Over 650 members of the media have been accredited to cover the event. The names of the accredited members of the media have been published on Parliament’s official website last week, with details of areas to collect the access tags.
At least 15 members of the media will be allocated seating in a specially demarcated area in the gallery called the Media Bay. This number will be determined in conjunction with the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association.
BROADCASTING:
The Parliamentary Broadcast and Audio Visual Unit will provide a broadcast feed to all television stations that will be broadcasting from the precinct. The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) will provide an audio feed for all radio stations.
We can certainly state that it is all systems go for the 2023 State of the Nation Address.
In conclusion, it is now a year since the fire incident that damaged certain sections of the buildings of Parliament. With the provision of about R2 Billion by the Finance Minister during the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement last year, Parliament together with other stakeholders are finalising the details of the reconstruction project, which will be announced by the Secretary to Parliament in due course.
Finally, on behalf of Parliament we wish to congratulate outstanding musicians Nomcebo Zikode, Zakes Bantwini and Wouter Kellerman for winning the grammy award. They make us proud on the international stage and demonstrated once again that ours is a resilient and a winning nation. Crowning this was the sterling performance of Trevor Noah as programme director
