Date: 07/02/2011
Source: The South African Parliament
Title: SA: Sisulu: Briefing my the National Assembly speaker, on the State of the Nation Address, in the National Assembly, Cape Town

This theme emphasises Parliament’s role as the arm of the South African state which is Constitutionally mandated to deliberate on and pass laws, to exercise oversight over the Executive, to serve as a platform for the consideration of issues of national concern and to facilitate public participation in these activities.

There are a number of specific programmes that Parliament will be embarking on this year to enhance its Constitutional role. But this is not the occasion for us to elaborate on these. We are here to brief you on our hosting of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

As was the case last year, the State of the Nation Address will again be delivered in the evening – at 7pm – in Parliament’s National Assembly Chamber to a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament.

The reason for having the State of the Nation Address at this time is to enable as many South Africans as possible to be part of this major event on our country’s political calendar.

The President’s address will be broadcast live on television, on radio, on big screens organised by the Government Communication and Information System and streamed live on Parliament’s website.

The State of the Nation Address is an opportunity for the President, as Head of State, not only of Government, to assess our country’s domestic and foreign situation and to outline what we should do so that we enhance our efforts to achieve a better life for all our people.

The ceremonial aspects of the State of the Nation Address will remain the same. The three arms of the state – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary - will again come together and play out their Constitutional roles in public.

As with previous years, the public participation aspect of the ceremony at Parliament will involve Guards of Honour coming from schools, civil society organisations and the community in general from all our nine provinces. It was former President Nelson Mandela who first introduced this public participation element into the ceremony

There will be a mounted police escort and a military motor escort, the route that the President takes will be lined by the South African National Defence Force. Here at Parliament there will be an imbongi, a national salute by the Ceremonial Guard of the SANDF, a military band (the SA Military Health Services Band on this occasion), a fly-past by the South African Air Force and a 21-gun salute.