Preparations ahead of SONA 2017

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Cape Town – Public servants, parliamentary staff, the media and various service providers are setting up and making final preparations within the Parliamentary precinct, ahead of tomorrow’s State of the Nation Address.

President Jacob Zuma will deliver his State of the Nation Address during a joint-sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday at 7pm. The address will be broadcast live on various news and radio stations as well as a number of public viewing sites across the country.

While accredited guests, media and officials were collecting their accreditation permits at a nearby venue near Parliament, within the precinct, preparations were already well underway.

The preparations will ensure operations during tomorrow’s address will be seamless.

Media personnel were still setting up their outside broadcast van between Tuynhuys – the President’s office – and the National Assembly.

While some were busy sorting out connection cables, some were setting up scaffolding from which they will shoot visuals of proceedings ahead of the President’s speech.

There was a small group of men who were hammering the final nails into a temporary stage on the stairs of the National Assembly. The stage, which will be covered by the red carpet tomorrow, is where the President will be joined by the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete, among other dignitaries, to observe the traditional 21-gun salute ahead of the speech tomorrow.

A red carpet will be rolled out tomorrow from the stairs of the National Assembly down to the entrance of the Old Assembly building, where guests and dignitaries will walk in. This part of proceedings is always a fashionable affair.

Parliament is expected to brief the media on the final logistics ahead of the President’s speech tomorrow. – SAnews.gov.za