South Africa postpones State of the Nation address
Tuesday February 06 2018
South African President Jacob Zuma at a past session in Parliament. The Speaker has postponed his State of the Nation address that had been slated for February 8, 2016. PHOTO | AFP
South Africa’s Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete has bowed to pressure from the opposition and called off Thursday’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).
The two biggest opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), recently wrote to Ms Mbete, saying President Jacob Zuma was not the right man to address the nation.
The two parties argued that the speech be postponed until after a no-confidence vote on President Zuma.
Ms Mbete on Tuesday announced that the Sona had been postponed to an undisclosed date.
“We've decided to approach the president of the republic to postpone the state of the nation address. We need to create room for establishing a much more conducive atmosphere in Parliament,” she said.
The Speaker has scheduled the no-confidence vote for February 22.
DA on Tuesday afternoon said it welcomed the decision to postpone the Sona.
“Last week, I wrote to the Speaker requesting that Sona be postponed until the current leadership crisis in the ANC is resolved. We cannot waste money, time nor another iota of our dwindling credibility on the international stage by allowing Jacob Zuma to deliver the Sona,” said DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
Zuma, whose presidency has been marred by graft scandals and economic decline, has been in a weakened position since he was replaced as leader of the ruling ANC by deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in December.
Following Tuesday’s Sona announcement, EFF leader Julius Malema, predicted that President Zuma was on the verge of stepping down.
ANC has called a special meeting of its decision-making National Executive Committee (NEC) for Wednesday, at which analysts have said some members of the party could call for the embattled leader to resign.
Ms Mbete added that a new date for the state of the nation address will be announced shortly.
She revealed that when they approached the president to discuss the postponement, he was already writing to Parliament to ask for the deferment of Sona.