SONA
Photo: Kopano Tlape GCIS

Home » ANC and DA Welcome Postponement of SONA

ANC and DA Welcome Postponement of SONA

As South Africa works out exactly what the state of the nation is, the Office of the ANC Chief Whip and DA Leader Mmusi Maimane have welcomed the postponement of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) as announced by the Presiding Officers today. The ANC Caucus said it will await the outcomes of the […]

By SAPeople Contributor
06-02-18 20:42
in Eish!
SONA
Photo: Kopano Tlape GCIS

As South Africa works out exactly what the state of the nation is, the Office of the ANC Chief Whip and DA Leader Mmusi Maimane have welcomed the postponement of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) as announced by the Presiding Officers today.

SONA
Photo by Kopano Tlape GCIS

The ANC Caucus said it will await the outcomes of the National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for tomorrow to give guidance to Caucus on the way forward.

Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete announced the postponement on Tuesday. SONA, which was scheduled for Thursday, will no longer take place as scheduled. No new date has yet been announced, although it’s reported it is likely to be within a week.

Mbete said Presiding Officers had approached President Jacob Zuma to postpone the speech to allow room for the creation of a more conducive environment in Parliament.

“We met the President today and he was already writing to us asking to postpone. We want a conducive political environment… We have been dismayed at anarchy of the past four years. Developments this year have caused us great concern…” Mbete said.

In taking their decision, Mbete said Parliament had “looked realistically at developments that had taken place in the past week”.

Last week, Mbete led a briefing of the Presiding Officers, where she announced that plans to hold SONA were set to go ahead.

In his first day as the ANC’s National Spokesperson, Pule Mabe said: “The ANC maintains its commitment to providing leadership to the Republic of South Africa in a manner that reinforces confidence in public institutions such as Parliament.

“It is for this reason that the ANC Caucus, represented by the Chief Whip, in the meeting of the Presiding Officers and all political parties, also motivated for the postponement of the scheduled Joint Sitting in light of the growing anxieties in the public domain.”

Mamaine, who had written last week to Mbete requesting a postponement, said he will be writing to Mbete again to “ensure that our impeachment motion, tabled last year, is urgently placed back on the order paper and the rules governing the impeachment process are finalised this week.

“Following this, Parliament must elect a new President, and this must be done via a special sitting of Parliament next week. One thing we cannot postpone is removing Jacob Zuma and electing a new President. This must be done in the next week.

“Lastly, we flatly reject any amnesty agreement or special deal for Jacob Zuma. He is not above the law, and must still face the 783 charges of fraud, money laundering and racketeering against him which were erroneously dropped almost a decade ago.”

Rumours are circling on one hand that Zuma will step down, and on another that he wishes to appoint Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as Deputy President to become Acting President should he be recalled.

Sources – ANC, DA, SAnews.gov.za, twitter