( President Jacob Zuma observing the gaurd of honor ahead of the SONA) The State of the Nation Address by HE President Jacob Zuma to a joint sitting of Parliament of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town.12/02/2015 Kopano Tlape/DoC.
Parliament has set aside R8 million for the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, promised that it will spend less than R5m.
The major cost is for hosting the event outside the Parliamentary precinct which requires additional resources.
This will be the second year that Parliament will host the Sona at the Cape Town City Hall after the fire last year.
Secretary to Parliament Xolile George, said on Tuesday that they will try to cut the costs as much as possible.
He said while parliament may have budgeted R8m last year for the Sona, it ended up spending less than R5m. They were expecting the same situation this year.
“On the issue of the budget for the Sona, we have budgeted around R8m for the delivery of the Sona and that takes into account a number of logistics that are related to putting together an event of this magnitude and scale. But consistent with the challenges our country is facing on the fiscus, every measure is taken to minimise the issue of costs related to this,” said George.
Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the City of Cape Town had handed over the city hall from the beginning of the month to turn it into a precinct in preparation for the Sona.
She said other than the 490 MPs who will attend the Sona, 263 guests were invited to the event.
Among the guests will be former president Thabo Mbeki , the president of the Pan African Parliament Chief Fortune Charumbira, the speaker of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova, and former speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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