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Parliament Web site to live stream SONA

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 04 Feb 2019
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the last SONA for the fifth and current Parliament this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the last SONA for the fifth and current Parliament this week.

Live streams of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) will be available for those citizens who will not be able to catch the live TV broadcast of the address.

SONA will take place on Thursday, 7 February, at 7pm.

According to a statement, citizens can catch the live stream of the address via the Parliament Web site. A number of news channels, including SABC and Etv, will also live stream the event via their YouTube channels.

SONA 2019, which will be delivered by president Cyril Ramaphosa, will be the fifth administration's last due to the elections later this year.

The annual event is an opportunity for the president to provide an overview of current developments in the country and set out government's key plans for the year ahead.

The public has also been encouraged to engage on social networking platforms using #SONA2019.

Meanwhile, National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete revealed Parliament has cut the budget for the SONA ceremony by 47% in comparison with the 2018 SONA budget.

Mbete says a couple of events and items that usually form part of SONA have been withdrawn from the address.

However, she notes there will still be a ceremonial parade exhibiting the military traditions, drills and ethos of the army, navy and Air Force of the Republic of South Africa.

"Consistent with our endeavour to continuously scale down on costs in light of prevailing economic conditions, we have kept arrangements to the bare minimum without compromising the significance and decorum of the occasion.

"As South Africans continue to face economic challenges, Parliament is taking very feasible steps to do more with fewer resources progressively."

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