The true cost of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) amounted to R4-million, not the R11-million the Democratic Alliance (DA) alleged, Parliament said on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the DA's parliamentary Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said replies to questions he had submitted immediately following the State of the Nation Address (Sona) revealed that the cost of the 2017 edition reached R11-million.

Steenhuisen said written replies by the ministers of Police (Nathi Nhleko) and Public Works (Thulas Nxesi) revealed that the departments spent a further R4.085-million and R2.7-million, respectively.

Parliament has however rejected these figures saying that allegations that Parliament spent more than R11-million in organising and staging the State of the Nation Address were 'selective', 'one-sided' and 'misleading'.

"Parliament had made a commitment over a number of years to progressively reduce expenditure on Sona through more prudent management and had been succeeding as it reached a R4-million mark in 2017."

Parliament stated that it was confident that when all bills are paid and everything reconciled, it may be even far less than the target.

"Parliament has ensured that high quality and delivery standards of this spectacle event in its corporate events calendar are maintained and improved."

Parliament added that Sona pumped millions into the economy of the City of Cape Town and the Province of the Western Cape, "a fact that is regrettably often not acknowledged by critics of Parliament".

"A factual study in this regard is being conducted to expose the actual statistical economic impact including tourism, economic development and job creation," it said.