Johannesburg- For the first time ever, the State Of the Nation Address will be held outside of the parliamentary precinct at the Cape Town City Hall and will cost a lot more than the R1.9 million initially set aside.
An amount of R1.9 million was allocated before Parliament caught fire and unfortunately, this has resulted in the changing of the venue and adjustment to the allocated funds.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his 6th state of the nation address tomorrow.
A total of 298 Members Of Parliament (MPs) will be seated in the chamber, a limited number of representatives, as well as the media will be allowed in the gallery.
Speaking to Sunday World, Parliament Spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said additional costs will include things such as translation services, audio and video translation and other things. He said the total budget will be released once it has taken place as the venue had to change at the last minute.
Moloto also stated that the Department of Public works is still assessing the damage caused by the fire and once that is done, they will know if Parliament needs to be rebuilt or not.
“However, the budget speech will still take place in parliament. There has been a chamber which has been allocated for it.”
The budget speech will be delivered by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, once the SONA and its debate have been finalized.
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