President’s SONA disruptions to be dealt with firmly: Mapisa-Nqakula – SABC News
Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nkakula, has assured South Africans that disruptions to the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) will be firmly resolved.
This followed threats from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who vowed not to allow President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the nation.
Speaking to the media outside City Hall in Cape Town, Mapisa-Nkakula says rules must be followed during proceedings.
“I don’t want to deal with this notion of people threatening to derail the State of the Nation address. It will continue and I can assure you that it will be successful. However, we must understand that we are adults and we serve the people of South Africa. And that whatever we do in this room, the voters of South Africa put us here. So we must be patient with each other. There should be mutual respect and we should listen to each other. So we don’t have a sleepless night. Although we worry from time to time because people are full of surprises and I hope you won’t surprise us either.”
Mapisa-Nkakula called on all South Africans, including the EFF, to abide by the SONA.
“There is a lot of discussion between our teams and the security cluster, their ministers will also find an opportunity to come and see how things are arranged.” We are also satisfied with the location of the seats. And to all the MPs, I heard about the threat. As far as we are concerned, he [President] he is not addressing the EFF or the ANC but he is addressing the nation. So I don’t want to perpetuate this notion of people threatening to violate SONA.
“A concrete plan for an energy crisis”
Meanwhile, former Deputy President Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says he hopes President Ramaphosa will shed more light on how the government will deal with the power issue.
A week ago, Ramaphosa, speaking in his capacity as president of the African National Congress, said the party had proposed that the electricity crisis be declared a national disaster.
Mlambo-Ngcuka called on Ramaphosa to give a time frame to resolve the energy crisis.
“We need a concrete plan for energy when it will go and when it will happen. We can’t just walk in the dark, we need a concrete plan.
