Parliament, Thursday 29 January 2009 - As the Presiding Officers of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, we would like to announce that the President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Mr Kgalema Motlanthe has, in terms of Sec 84 (d) of the Constitution, 'summoned the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces or Parliament to an extraordinary sitting to conduct special business.' The special business for this joint sitting of Parliament will be the State of the Nation address.
The date for this year's State of the Nation Address (SONA) is 6 February 2009.
Theme of the State of the Nation Address
The occasion sees the President addressing the three arms of state (the legislature, the executive and the judiciary). It is our role as Parliament to ensure that his address reaches our nation as a whole. Consequently, much of our efforts are focussed on public participation in the event itself. This year's occasion will for the first time be beamed live on big public screens throughout all nine provinces. The Presiding Officers will line up Members of Parliament to be interviewed by the media on the day of SONA.
The theme for this year's SONA is 'Parliament entrenching people-centred democracy in achieving development goals.' What this means, is that Parliament's function of monitoring and evaluation over the executive sits at the centre of our activities. We take our oversight functions very seriously. For us this means that we have to be the enablers of public participation. Hence programmes such as taking Parliament to the people, People's Assembly, Women's Parliament, and others which are related to the interface between Parliament as legislature and the executive.
It is hoped that this theme will capture the expectations that South Africans have in government as a whole in meeting the many demands of service delivery.
To that effect, the SONA will only cover the tenure of entire third Parliament, from 2004 to 2009.
Programme of the Day
As usual the day is rich with ceremonial splendour. On arrival, the President will be received by the Presiding Officers at Slave Lodge. The President will be accompanied by the POs as they walk the red carpet, meeting people and watching cultural performances. At the steps of the National Assembly the President will take the gun salute from the military.
Lining the red carpet will be eminent South Africans, from all nine provinces, a civil guard of honour, drawn from civil society development organisations, and a junior guard of honour, drawn from schools in the Western Cape, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
The President will then address Parliament from 11am until noon when the house will be adjourned. Members of Parliament (MPs) and guests will then proceed to a luncheon.
Presiding Officers' Interaction with the Media
There will be a number of opportunities whereby POs from Parliament will be interacting with the media on the day through interviews and so forth. Full details will be provided in due course.
Enquiries:
Lebogang Nawa
Cell: 082 786 7326
E-mail: lnawa@parliament.gov.za
Issued by the Parliament of RSA
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