The Cape Town City Hall has been declared a Parliamentary precinct ahead of the State of the Nation Address. [Picture: Zamani Project]
The loadshedding crisis is anticipated to make a large part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday. Parliament officials said they were making every effort to ensure the SONA would not be disrupted by loadshedding.
Ramaphosa will deliver the SONA at the Cape Town City Hall for the second year. This is due to repair work being done on the Parliamentary chamber following a fire that gutted the building at the start of 2022.
SONA is one of the most important speeches the head of state will make. It is an opportunity for the president to report to the nation on progress of the past year, as well as outline the government’s plans for the coming year.
“Electricity is a pressing issue,” said political analyst Asanda Ngoasheng, “but the government seems unable to solve it. It has been a crisis since 2007 with no solutions in sight.”
In the previous SONA, Ramaphosa promised a separate transmission subsidiary of Eskom was on track to complete unbundling by December 2022. This has not materialised. Such fundamental changes as the unbundling of Eskom, were touted to make headway in managing the energy crisis.
Ramaphosa later announced an Energy Action Plan, in July 2022, to recover the energy availability factor (EAF) from an average of 58% to a nominal 60% by the end of March 2023. The latest data from the power utility places the current EAF at 53.55%.
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Other areas to watch
Ramaphosa is also expected to speak on progress made in the fight against corruption, with the State Capture Commission having released the final parts of the report since the previous SONA.
The wheels of justice have, however, widely been perceived to be turning painstakingly slowly. Since 2018, the Hawks secured 4500 convictions for corruption and other priority crimes. Ngoasheng is not convinced by the statistics.
“Some progress on SONA 2022 promises, but still not enough as many of the people accused of corruption have still not been prosecuted and there hasn’t been enough progress on the promised corruption courts,” she said.
Job creation and socioeconomic challenges have featured prominently in every SONA, but Ngoasheng said, “promised jobs have not materialised and economic reforms have also not been delivered”.
The president is also expected to announce a Cabinet reshuffle either ahead of or immediately after SONA, with ANC deputy president and others having already been sworn into Parliament.
Pomp and ceremony
On Tuesday, National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said all members of Parliament (MPs) and invited guests would be present within the chamber and the public gallery. This would include nearly 500 MPs and over 200 invited local and foreign guests.
The proceedings would also follow the full format this year, with full pomp and ceremony and a budget of R8 million.
“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,” she said.
Meanwhile, some have called for media houses to avoid covering the red carpet walks that precede SONA.
“We can no longer align our values of being here to uplift this country with the disgraceful and raucous opulence of politicians, dressed like fashion icons who walk on a red carpet like stars instead of as servants of the people,” Tweeted Lorenzo Davids.
