JUNIOR GUARD OF HONOUR
173 participants comprising:
- 18 learners from all nine provinces (two learners per province)
- 24 Girl Guides (12 from Gauteng and 12 from the Western Cape)
- 11 members of the Western Cape Canoe Polo Development Centre who are also learners at Maitland High
- 120 learners from schools in Cape Town (Cape Town High School near the Company's Garden in the Cape Town CBD, Thandokhulu High School in Mowbray, Trafalgar High School in Zonnebloem,/District Six, Vista High School on the slopes of Signal Hill in the Bo-Kaap, Walmer Secondary in Walmer Estate/Woodstock and Zonnebloem Nest Senior School in Walmer Estate/District Six).
CIVIL GUARD OF HONOUR
100 participants comprising 20 members from each of the following five volunteer organisations:
- Disaster Risk Management
- National Sea Rescue Institute
- South African Police Service's Cape Town Reservists
- St John's Ambulance
- Volunteer Wildfire Services
EMINENT PERSONS
Nine Eminent Persons, nominated by their Provincial Legislature in recognition of their contribution to our democracy. The information below was supplied to Parliament by the Provincial Legislatures, which nominated the Eminent Persons.
EASTERN CAPE
Mrs Nombulelo April - Was born in Cathcart in the Eastern Cape but moved with her family to Queenstown in the late 1950s. There she became interested in politics through her involvement in the Anglican Church where she came into contact with African National Congress (ANC) leaders, such as Reverend James Calata, who was also a former Secretary General of the ANC in the Eastern Cape. After being detained a number of times and served with a five-year banning order in 1978, Mrs April fled to Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, where she joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). She returned to South Africa after some years and, in Butterworth in the 1980s and 1990s, provided a safe house for MK cadres, helped to establish and was active in women's organisations and trade unions. After South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, she held executive positions and has been a member of the MK Military Veterans' Association, the ANC Veterans League and a projects coordinator for the SA Military Veterans Association. She continues to be involved in community organisations in Butterworth, including those dealing with child welfare, drug abuse, health, education and HIV.
FREE STATE
Mr Joel Buti Motsoahae - Was introduced to the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League by teachers at his high school - Bantu High School Johannesburg - later called Madibane High School. Fellow students included Thomas Nkobi (a former ANC Treasurer General and ANC Member of Parliament in the first democratic Parliament, until his death in September 1994) and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. After matriculating, Mr Motsoahae went to the University of Fort Hare before completing his studies because of financial difficulties and worked for a while, during the 1950s, on farms in what was then Natal. He later moved to Durban and went into exile in Lesotho in 1968. He returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 and remains an active member. He lives in Bloemfontein.
GAUTENG
Ms Ntombi Johanna Mfenyane - Cut her political teeth in the African National Congress (ANC) underground in 1973 and 1976. She was also active in several public organisations, such as the National Youth Organisation, the South African Students Movement, the Federation of Transvaal Women (an affiliate of the United Democratic Front), the Detainees' Parents Support Committee, the South African National Civic Organisation and unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions. In 2006 she was elected as a councillor for Diepkloof Ward 26 and in 2009, Deputy Chairperson of the Gauteng Provincial ANC Veterans League. She currently works at Luthuli House, for the ANC.
KWAZULU NATAL
Mr Sazi Ngcongo - Joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), in 1961, the year it was formed. In 1963, while trying to escape from South Africa to receive military training abroad, Mr Ngcongo and other MK members were captured in Zeerust, detained in Pretoria Prison for 90 days, tried and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and transferred to Robben Island after about six months. Mr Ngcongo was released in 1973 and resumed his political activities in the ANC. He is currently a member of the Sbusiso Magwanyana Branch (Ward 95) in KwaZulu Natal and lives in Folweni Township in Isipingo.
LIMPOPO
Morebudi Geraldine Thangry Poopedi - Started working at an early age and became a shop steward at a clothing manufacturing company. Joined the United Democratic Front and was detained for her activities. She later worked for civil society organisations, including for the National Progressive Primary Health Care Network. Ms Poopedi then joined the civil service and retired as a public servant in January this year. Ms Poopedi is currently doing an honours degree in Social Science.
MPUMALANGA
Mr Samuel Nzima - Is the South African photographer who, in 1976, took what became an iconic image of the 1976 student uprising, which started in Soweto and quickly spread like wildfire throughout South Africa. The photo showed a fatally-wounded Hector Pieterson, the 12-year-old scholar shot by police in Soweto at the start of the protest on 16 June 1976, being carried by a grief-stricken Mbuyisa Makhubo, with Hector's 17-year-old sister Antoinette, running alongside, distress transfiguring her face. Mr Nzima received the Order of Ikhamanga from President Jacob Zuma for helping, through this photo, to shine an international spotlight on apartheid's brutality. Mr Nzima lives in Lillydale - the town in Mpumalanga where he was born in 1934 and where he now runs a photography school.
NORTH WEST
Mrs Nomalungelo Aggreyneth Dubula - Joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1954. In 1995 she started the first ANC Women's League (ANCWL) branch in Montshiwa in the North West. She has served in various community structures in the area, including the Ward Committee, school governing bodies, the ANC and ANCWL and continues to be involved in community development initiatives.
NORTHERN CAPE
Mr Benjamin Obakeng Itumeleng - Joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1948 in the Greenpoint-Beaconfield-Kimberley area. Participated in several campaigns for justice during the 1950s, including the Pound a Day Campaign in 1957, the Potato Boycott against exploitation of farmworkers in 1957 and the anti-Pass Law Campaign of 1959. Mr Itumeleng is currently the Deputy Chairperson of the ANC Veterans League, a position to which he was elected in 2009.
WESTERN CAPE
Mrs Mumtaz Bapoo - Is an educator by profession. She is the principal of Husami Educare in Cravenby, Cape Town. Mrs Bapoo also coordinates and manages outreach programmes with a number of orphanages during the month of Ramadaan, is involved in a feeding scheme programme covering Uitzicht, Cravenby and Ravensmead and coordinates community programmes in these areas in support of drug rehabilitation centres.
PRAISE SINGER
Praise singers have been a feature of the State of the Nation Address ceremony since 2005 and have come from a variety of provinces and languages since then.
The praise singer for the February 2014 State of the Nation Address is Mr Nditsheni Saul Nephawe (with the artistic name of Burning Soul Nephawe), who will deliver his praise song in Tshivenda. Born in Makonde in Tshithuthuni Village in Limpopo where he still lives, Mr Nephawe has a long association with music and praise singing. "I started making musical noise in my community and at school during my primary level at the age of six," Mr Nephawe recalled.
"This talent got shaped when I joined one of the local groups called Shufflers. The praise part was unfolded when reciting psalms at church gatherings, conferences and crusades," Mr Nephawe remembers. He has won a number of awards for his craft and has made several recordings of his work.
FIRST-TIME REGISTERED VOTERS BORN IN 1994 (TWO PER PROVINCE)
BORN ON 27 APRIL 1994 - 9
- Eastern Cape - Sibusiso Gabelana, Sbongiseni Gitywa
- Gauteng - Reneilwe Kodisang, Nkululeko Nhlanhla Chezi
- KwaZulu Natal - Asanda Nkululeko Africander
- Limpopo - Winny Mataha
- Mpumalanga - Winnie Precious Lekhuleni
- North West - Kagiso Innocent Metswamere, Kagiso Dinkebogile
BORN BEFORE 27 APRIL 1994 - 4
- Free State - Tumelo Freedom Lampeche
- Mpumalanga - Nkululeko Leonard Lubisi (born one day before - 26 April)
- Northern Cape - Bonolo Nkomombini, Quintin Klacker
BORN AFTER 27 APRIL 1994 - 5
- Free State - Nasiphi Princess Nomtembe
- KwaZulu Natal - Thembelihle Lysandra Shabalala
- Limpopo - Lala Diketso Tladi
- Western Cape - Byron Africa (youngest of the 18, born 17 December), Thembelihle Dube
RADIO COMPETITION WINNERS
Members of the public who entered and won a competition on the State of the Nation Address will be Parliament's guests on Thursday.
As Parliament's guests, they will be seated in the public galleries of the National Assembly Chamber where President Zuma will deliver the State of the Nation Address to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament - the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
Winners coming from outside Cape Town will also receive, courtesy of Parliament, one night's accommodation, a return economy-class air ticket and ground transport between Cape Town International Airport and the hotel in which they are booked. Those from Cape Town will receive courtesy ground transport between home and Parliament.
The competition was broadcast in eight of our official languages - Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sotho, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation radio stations which ran the competition and the winners on each station are:
- Good Hope FM - Zandile Ntuli
- uKhozi FM - Nelisiwe Matiwane
- iKwekwezi FM - Gijimani Ntuli
- Lesedi FM - Peter Leshilo
- Metro FM - Nkosentsha Somagaca
- uMhlobo Wenene FM - Sonwabo Somyali
- Motsweding FM - Dimakatso Cecilia Mangena-Hobyane
- Phalaphala FM - Thinavhuyo Docneth Nengwenani
- X-KFM - Slabbert Juharra
Arrange a tour