Pretoria – There is a long list of participants and guests who will add to the pomp and ceremony of the State of the Nation Address and make it a memorable one tomorrow evening.
President Jacob Zuma will deliver his first State of the Nation Address to a Joint Sitting of the two Houses of the fifth democratic Parliament on Tuesday. His address will get underway at 7pm.
According to Parliament, public participants in the ceremony will include a Junior Guard of Honour, a Civil Guard of Honour, nine Eminent Persons, a praise singer, university students and cultural groups.
The 120 participants in the Junior Guard of Honour will be drawn from two Cape Town high schools – Walmer High School and Maitland High School.
The 120 participants in the Civil Guard of Honour will be drawn from Parliament’s officials with 20 years’ or more service.
A praise singer, Eric Sifiso Lubisi, will lead the President into the National Assembly Chamber. Lubisi hails from Schultzendal in Mpumalanga and is a Grade 7 educator at Schultzendal Primary School.
Students from the University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Western Cape have been invited as Parliament’s guests and will be in the National Assembly public gallery for the President’s address. A total of 27 students have been invited.
Cultural groups, chosen on a rotational basis and in keeping with the theme for the State of the Nation Address, will perform along the President Zuma’s red carpet route from the Slave Lodge to the National Assembly, said Parliament.
The Eminent Persons are selected by Provincial Legislatures in recognition of their contribution to democracy.
“The State of the Nation Address is one of the rare occasions when all three arms of the state – the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature - come together in one place. The ceremony is a combination of public participation and a formal state ceremony.
“The public participation part of the procession is important because Parliament strives to make the institution accessible to people and to facilitate public involvement in the lawmaking and other processes of Parliament,” it said in a statement.
Besides those who will form part of the public participation component of the ceremony, guests who have been invited include former Presidents, former Deputy Presidents, former Presiding Officers and former Chief Justices, representatives of statutory and Constitutional institutions, the diplomatic corps, representatives of the House of Traditional Leaders and representatives from civil society organisations, religious bodies, state-owned enterprises, business and trade organisations, trade union federations, academic and research institutions, among others.
There are also guests of the President as well as guests of Members of Parliament.
The State of the Nation Address will also be a full ceremonial occasion, involving a mounted police escort and a military ceremonial motor escort, a national salute by the Ceremonial Guard of the SANDF, a military band, a salute flight by the South African Air Force and a 21-gun salute.
However, Parliament has made provision for a wet weather plan should the weather be inclement. – SAnews.gov.za
